The Phantom of Merlotte's
by NelBearPig
Summary: Phantom of the Opera meets Southern Vampire Mysteries. What happens when a mysterious vampire takes a liking to Sookie and all kinds of madness ensues.
1. Prolouge

A/N: This is my very first attempt at fan fiction so please review and give me lots of feedback. Let me know what you think I have been inspired to write this by fan fictions that I've read that had Sookie watching Phantom of the Opera, so thank you. I hope you all like it. I decided write a mash up of the Phantom of the Opera and the Sookie Stackhouse novels, I hope it works out (fingers crossed). I will be using a few direct quotes from PotO and I will put them in _italics_.

The Phantom of Merlotte's

Prologue (If you all are interested then I will continue)

Eric walks into Merlotte's for the first time in many years. Both the town and the restaurant were merely ghosts of their former selves; he had never thought much of Merlotte's before, but it was the place his lover had worked, so he had a certain fondness for it. There was an auction being held that night in an attempt to get rid of the remaining paraphernalia left behind by the previous owner.

He wanted to pick up something small as a keepsake to help remember his lover and he figured that this would be as good a place as any since this dump meant so much to her. He decided to buy the pool table; he had never known her to play pool, but the table was a prominent enough piece that it would serve to always keep her at the forefront of his thoughts.

After securing his purchase, Eric decided to stay around a little while longer to see what else was up for auction. The auctioneer was the parish sheriff Andy Bellefleur. It had been a while since Eric had seen Andy and time had not been good to him. He was surprised that Andy ever became sheriff-- he always seemed a little dimwitted and Eric knew the new sheriff and his bonded never had a good relationship, which made him feel a hint of resentment towards the now old man. Andy called everyone's attention to the center of the room, to the severely beaten and worn bar, _Lot 666_.

The bar was definitely showing its age but it wasn't beyond repair. Andy began speaking of the bar's involvement in the _strange affair of the Phantom of _Merlotte's,_ a mystery never fully explained._ With this, Eric began to remember what had occurred here. It was what brought the bar to its current state. He looked around the room and caught the eyes of some of the people; people who he knew also remembered the events all too well.


	2. Think of Me

A/N: I am very happy to see that people are enjoying my story so far.

Sam was putting his barmaids through their pre-shift warm ups. It was a series of those weird team-building exercises that large companies would send their employees on retreats to do. Sookie and her friend Amelia were doing their best to keep up with the rest of the staff, but their boredom with the routine was not helping. So once again Arlene stole the show with her "constructive" criticism of the other girls on staff, as well as her way of doing exactly what Sam expected before he could ask for it, simply based on the fact that she had worked at Merlotte's for so long.

Arlene was strutting around with pride of being Merlotte's resident diva barmaid (something only she thought was a good thing), but Sookie knew that Sam had his eye on her and knew that she was very talented in things other than waiting tables. She knew that she would be playing a larger part in the running of the bar if it weren't for the fact that so many of the customers loved Arlene since she had been there for so long.

It was shortly after dark, the dinner shift was just about to start, and the girls were still going through the motions of their warm ups when one of the glasses on Arlene's tray went flying across the room accompanied by nothing but a strong gust of wind. Everyone froze, but they quickly assumed that the strange occurrence was simply a case of the Bar Ghost screwing around with them again. Strange things seemed to be happening around the bar and there was no plausible explanation for them. The people of Bon Temps would simply joke that there was a ghost haunting the bar and that it liked to spook the waitresses so it could see them jump up and down. The guys in the bar surely liked that part.

Arlene, on the other hand, was having none of it. She told Sam, in no uncertain terms, that she was having no more of the ghost's high jinks. She stormed out of the employee entrance, yelling behind her with great dramatic effect, "_until these things stop happening, this thing does not happen_." No one paid much attention to her because this was the usual scene after one of the Bar Ghost's "appearances". Everyone expected Arlene to return, but when they heard her car start up and the crunch of the gravel under the tires, they all knew that, tonight would be different.

It was mere minutes into the dinner shift at Merlotte's on a Friday night, so it was guaranteed to be a very busy night. Especially now that Sam was without his head waitress. He had no time to waste and he knew that he had to run out and try and catch Arlene. He needed her to come back before the crowd got too drunk and rowdy, since she seemed to be the only one other than him that was capable of calming down the restless locals. But Sam had an ace up his sleeve and he knew just how to rectify the situation.

"Hey Sookie, come here for a second," he called, sticking his head of permanently messy hair out of his office. All of the girls got really quiet as Sookie made her way to the back and into Sam's office. Amelia was the only one to give her a reassuring smile; the rest of the girls seem either scared or jealous.

"Hey Sam, you wanted to see me?" Sookie couldn't help but look and sound a little nervous because although she wanted to think of Sam as a friend as well as a boss, they never really got to talk much because he was always busy dealing with Arlene's shenanigans.

"Have a seat, Sook," he said, motioning to the battered chair on across from him.

"You know, if I run out now I could probably beat her to her house so I don't have to try and talk her into coming back through her front door again." Sookie was used to having to talk Arlene into returning back to work when she would go storming off. Sam just chuckled a little and ran his hand through his hair. Sookie took a seat, shocked that Sam didn't seem to want her to run after Arlene right away like he usually did.

Sam took in a deep breath and Sookie braced herself. "Sookie, I want you to be head waitress tonight and lead the team." Sookie always found it weird that Sam referred to his staff as a team but if it worked for him, it worked for her…but that was beside the point. She was completely shocked at the amount of faith Sam was putting in her. Then Sam continued, "I've been watching your work here for years and I know you will do great. Sookie was still in shock so she took a quick little peek into her boss's mind. She didn't make it a habit of doing this because she wanted to respect Sam's privacy, but she wanted to know if he was being sincere. Although she couldn't get clear thoughts off of him she got a good read on his emotions and she could tell that he was being completely genuine. This filled her with a sense of pride and she didn't want to let her boss down.

"Sure Sam I'll do it." She beamed at him with her nervous smile inching tighter and tighter. Even though Sam believed she could handle the pressure, she wasn't sure if she could.

"Great!" Sam said, getting up and moving quickly to his office door. "I'll tell the rest of the girls and then I'm going to go try and find Arlene. I'll only be gone for a little while, I should be back before it gets too busy," he called behind him to a still stunned Sookie.

Sam went out into Merlotte's main room where the customers were still talking about the latest appearance of the Bar Ghost and Arlene's reaction, they were even taking bets as too how long it would take her to return. He called his "team" into the hall that contained the doors to the bathrooms, his office, and the kitchen. Sookie was just making her way out of the office when the other girls were coming into the hall. "Now girls," Sam called over the low din of their whispers, "I know this will be an adjustment because you all are used to Arlene running the show, but Sookie will be a great team leader for tonight. Just give her a little moral support and everything will run smoothly."

That night was the best night of work that Sookie had ever had and she seemed to be in her element as head waitress. She used her gift sparingly-- to see if the other girls were getting overwhelmed and needed a break after the crowd from the high school football game showed up and started hollering. She was able to tune out all of the buzzing brains of the bar with an ease she had never experienced before. Even the Arlene fans were impressed with Sookie and they barely noticed that Arlene was gone at all.

Sam stayed at the bar for a little before he went to calm Arlene down because he wanted to see how Sookie would handle her new position. He had to admit to himself that he was impressed; he thought that she would do well but he didn't think she would do this well. Sam knew about Sookie's extra little ability and noticed that from time to time it seemed to overwhelm her, but tonight there was no evidence of that. Sam was even more surprised when people would suggest that he should make her the permanent head waitress. Andy Bellefleur went up to Sam at the bar and said, "She's really good. She knows exactly what you need before you ask for it and if she isn't near; she asks someone who is closer to get it. It's almost like she can read you mind or something". Sam was flabbergasted by Andy's statement because he knew that there was no love between he and Sookie.

Sam took this as his cue to leave and made his way out of the back of the bar to head out to Arlene's. He was sure that no one noticed his departure since everything was running so smoothly and Sookie was getting most of everyone's drink orders by herself anyway.

There was one person at the bar that night that seemed to take a particular interest in Sookie and her abilities as a waitress. He was a vampire from Shreveport that came into Merlotte's that night to talk to Sam about a possible partnership in the bar and grill. He called Sookie over; there was something familiar about her, but he couldn't seem to figure it out.

"Is there something else I can get for you?" She noticed that he had been sitting there with the same TrueBlood for over an hour and didn't even seem to have taken a sip from it. Knowing that since he was a vampire she couldn't read his mind, Sookie was a little nervous that he may have asked her for something else before and she forgot. She felt her nervous smile creeping back onto her face.

The mystery vampire just gave her a slight smile; it was devilish with a hint of flirtation. Sookie was suddenly panic-stricken. She thought that when she had asked if she could get him something else that he would think that she was offering herself. Her nervousness eased a bit when he finally spoke. "I just wanted to compliment you on the fine job you are doing here tonight."

Sookie flushed a bit from receiving a compliment from such a strikingly handsome man…vampire…whatever he was, he was sure handsome. She was all of a sudden nervous again, not knowing what the intention of this complement was. She was still trying to figure this all out in her head and was unable to reply beyond stuttering out, "T-t-thank you sir."

The vampire smiled a little broader, reveling in the fact that by simply sitting there and looking at her that he could make her so nervous. "I'm Eric by the way, I own the premier vampire bar out in Shreveport, Fangtasia you may have heard of it," he said, knowing full well that everyone had heard of Fangtasia. "I could sure use someone with your talents out there to keep the human vermin that work for me in line." Sookie bristled a bit at hearing Eric refer to humans as vermin, but since she was on the clock and determined to prove herself to Sam, she decided to keep her mouth shut about it. She just smiled at him while he continued, "So what do you say I take you away from this dump, your talents are wasted here with that shifter. I will see you after your shift and we can talk about it then."

Sookie didn't know what to say. She loved this bar and felt the need to defend it, but she reminded herself again that she was on the clock and that she was not going to let this gorgeous and pompous jerk ruin all of the work she put in that night to prove herself. So she just snorted a bit and turned on her heels and went back to work. Sam had come back without Arlene. No one seemed to notice, although Sam did look a bit frustrated. Sookie saw Eric go over to the bar and ask Sam to talk in his office She caught Sam's attention before he turned from the bar to leave and rolled her eyes a bit to send the message that Eric was a bit of a jerk.

Sookie went back to finish up her shift since it was close to closing. The place was pretty dead by that point, so she had the time to think about her encounter with Eric. Even though she didn't like any of the things he said about her working for Sam, she didn't want to judge him based solely off of that one meeting. She debated whether or not she should at least hear him out. She figured that she would have the opportunity to chew him out for the comments he made about the bar and humans and then politely turn down his offer, so she decided to wait out back for him until he was done talking to Sam.

Sookie was standing outside of Merlotte's when she heard a faint, yet familiar voice in the distance calling to her. The voice sang her name like the most beautiful song and she could not help but be drawn towards it.


	3. Angel of Music

"You have done very well tonight, Sookie. I see our lessons have paid off," said the voice in the woods. Sookie started to walk towards the woods behind Merlotte's, but before she could respond to the voice Amelia came out to the employee lot looking for her friend.

"Hey Sook, where have you been? You did so well tonight, _I only wish I knew your secret, who is this new tutor_?"

Sookie shivers a bit thinking about the strange tutor that has been helping her get a handle on her telepathy. "Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," she said, shifting her weight between her feet.

"Come on, roomie, you can tell me anything." Amelia couldn't help but look and sound concerned when she saw Sookie's apprehension and agitation grow.

"Okay, let's get in the car and I'll tell you on the way home." They walked over to Sookie's old beat up Nova and start to make their way home. Sookie takes a deep breath and starts to tell Amelia about her tutor, for lack of a better word.

"Gran used to tell me that even after she was gone there would always be someone around to look after me, an angel she said he would be and he would help me manage my little disability. I told you that there is someone helping me, but what I never told you is that I have never actually seen him. I just know that he is the angel that Gran always told me about." By this time the two girls have pulled up around the back of Sookie's house, but they remained in the car to finish their conversation. Sookie takes a deep breath and stares into the woods behind her house before continuing.

"Whenever I come out here at night I can sense him. He whispers to me-- ways that I can control my ability, use it to help me at the bar, and just make functioning around people easier." Amelia just gaped at her for a while, searching for what to say.

"Sookie, _you must have been dreaming, stories like this can't come true. _Sookie_ you're talking in riddles and it's not like you._" Amelia was thoroughly confused, but the look on Sookie's face told her that she wasn't making this up, that Sookie actually believed there was an angel that spoke to her at night.

Sookie looked over to Amelia. "We all know that vampires are real, so why is it so hard to believe that there is an angel that's helping me?" She was a little annoyed by Amelia's reaction and stormed out of the car and up the steps to the back porch.

Once inside, Amelia tried to lighten the mood a little by asking Sookie about the tall and handsome blonde that she saw her talking to. Sookie quickly recapped the encounter. She completely forgot that she was supposed to be waiting for him when she heard the voice call her from the woods. She figured that if he wanted to talk to her that badly, then he would stop by Merlotte's again. She figured that it served him right that she wasn't waiting for him when she said she would, because he thought humans to be beneath him.

The girls had gone their separate ways to start to get ready for bed when there was a knock on the front door. Sookie was still a little bit miffed by Amelia's reaction to the story of her tutor (not that she fully blamed her, it was a far out story) and decided to take it out on whoever was on the other side of the door (they were calling at such an inappropriate hour), but all of the wind was knocked out of her sails when she saw who it was.

Whoever she was expecting to see on her front step, it wasn't Eric. She was completely shocked to see him there; she knew that she would see him again, but she didn't think it would be this soon. "Sorry to come by so late, I was anxious to speak to you and when I couldn't find you after your shift Sam told me where you lived."

Sookie was too tired to fully process Eric's presence and all she could say was, "Where is your car? And how did you get here so fast, I only just got here myself?" Eric just chuckled a bit. He was fully prepared to get told off for showing up so late and for his earlier comments. The last thing he expected was for Sookie to be curious as to how he got to her house, so he decided to tell her the truth.

"Well I flew of course. Now are you going to invite me in or are you going to leave me out here to meet the sun?" he asked playfully.

Sookie couldn't help but flush a bit from the embarrassment of forgetting her manners, so she quickly invited him in. She swore that she could hear her grandmother rolling over in her grave in the cemetery not too far from her home; her Gran raised her better than to leave people out on the front step. Eric walked in, taking a quick look around the little farmhouse before taking a seat on the couch. Sookie sat on the other side of the couch, she wasn't uncomfortable being alone with him actually what she was feeling was quite the opposite. She still thought he was a bit of a jerk, but there was something about him that intrigued her. Suddenly Eric spoke bringing Sookie's attention back to the present. "I wanted to complement you again on how well you did tonight."

Sookie couldn't help but look a bit puzzled. "Um, thanks. I really don't want to sound ungrateful, but couldn't you have waited to tell me this another time or gotten my phone number from Sam the same way you got my address and called me to tell me that. It doesn't seem important enough that you had to fly all the way over here."

Eric laughed again, not something that he did often, before continuing, "Well I also wanted to apologize for some of the comments I made back at the bar, I realize that I didn't make the greatest first impression. I usually like to apologize in person and before people forget why they were upset in the first place. Apologies seem to be more effective that way." Sookie could not refute the logic of that kind of thinking, but couldn't help but thing that there was still more to coming to her house in the middle of night.

Sookie looked at Eric through narrowed eyes. "Riiight" She wanted it to be made known that she wasn't buying his reasons. "Eric, cut the bull. Why are you really here?"

"Well there is no way to get anything past you Sookie," he replied with a sigh that was simply for dramatic effect since vampires don't breathe. "I did want to complement you and apologize for my behavior earlier, but most of all I wanted to invite you out to have dinner with me sometime. When is your next night off?"

Shocked could not begin to describe what Sookie was feeling. Once again Eric did something that she completely didn't expect. "But you don't eat," Sookie said, once again skipping over the more obvious questions.

"I realize that, Sookie, but the evening would be more about us getting to know each other better than it would be about the food," Eric replied with a smile that Sookie could only describe a devilishly sexy. Sookie smiled shyly and told Eric that she was free the following night. She couldn't believe that she actually agreed to go out with him.

"Great," Eric said, bounding up from the couch. "The sun sets tomorrow around 8 so I'll pick you up at 8:30, and I'll bring a car this time." Sookie walked him to her door and said goodnight. Eric gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and zoomed into the sky before she could blink.

Sookie couldn't believe her night. She thought everything over as she crawled into bed. Her last waking thought was, "What do you wear on a date with a vampire?"


	4. Little Lotte

A/N I'm very sorry for the extreme delay of this chapter I felt that it was getting away from me and didn't really fit into what I originally planned to write but I wanted to add it anyway and when I got into it I liked it more. Also life has gotten pretty hectic for me over the past few weeks between school and home I've been run a bit ragged but things have seemed to calmed down for now so I will hopefully be able to get this stuff out faster from now on. I hope you still enjoy what I'm doing.

I also couldn't help myself so I put some of my favorite quotes form season 2 in here. And also there is a little shout out to outinritefield1 in here.

I hate to do this but please review I need to know if y'all are still out there.

Enjoy, J

Little Lotte

Sookie woke the next morning, rather the next afternoon, to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She reluctantly pulled herself out of bed and into her bathroom to freshen up. She couldn't help but feel a little anxious about seeing Eric again that night, but she was also feeling very excited about the prospect of just that. She went out into the kitchen to find her roomie Amelia sitting at the table drinking one of her funny witch teas and reading the newspaper, clearly just having woken up herself.

Sookie got herself a mug of coffee and made some toast before sitting at the table, across from her roommate. "So anything interesting in the news today?" she asked as per their usual morning (see afternoon) ritual.

"Oh, nothing really. Just that Bud Dearborn is retiring and Andy Bellefleur is running against Kenya for Sheriff." Amelia barely even looked up from the paper when she said this; she hadn't lived in Bon Temps long enough to know how big a deal this actually was. Sookie almost choked on her toast.

"Wow. This is going to be interesting to see. I don't think Renard Parish has ever had a woman run for Sheriff, let alone a black woman." Sookie silently wished her grandmother was around to see this; she knew she would have been excited of the prospect. "I hope she wins Andy is a drunk and a fool going around hollering about seeing pigs and what not. Kenya always seemed to have her head on straight."

Amelia laughed, remembering Andy running into Merlotte's not too long ago, reeking of whisky and asking if anyone had seen a huge pig. "I can hear his campaign slogan now: 'Vote for me, Andy. I'm a good cop,'" said Amelia, doing her best Andy impersonation. That got a good laugh from Sookie, who this time almost choked on her coffee.

"Well I guess this should definitely make sure work is interesting tonight." Sookie almost felt bad that she was going to miss it, but then she thought of her date that night and those feelings quickly disappeared.

"Hey, I almost forgot to ask you," Amelia said, looking up from her paper. "Who the hell came by so late last night? Were they out of their mind? If I wasn't so damn tired I would have come downstairs to tell them off. I surely hope that you did."

Amelia looked really pissed and Sookie couldn't help but blush a little when she thought about the tall blonde vampire that stopped by to pay her a visit the night before. She tried to hide her reaction from Amelia by getting up to put her mug in the sink, but it didn't work. Amelia just cocked her eyebrow and gave Sookie a very annoyed 'I'm waiting' look when she got back to the table.

Sookie just sighed. "Remember that blonde vampire that was at Merlotte's last night."

"Yeah, he owns Fangtasia I was really surprised to see him at the bar last night."

"Geez, I'm I the only one who has never heard of this place? Well anyway he said he wanted to talk to me after work but I kind of forgot and left. So he came here."

"Leave it to a vamp to think that just because they are awake all night that everyone one else must be too… wait! A man that hot wanted to talk to you and you forgot? And then he came all this way to see you after you ditched him? Damn Sook, some girls have all of the luck." Both of the girls giggled at the thought. "Wait, what the hell did he want that he came all of this way?" Leave it to Amelia to bring the girl talk back down to earth.

"Well, he wanted to complement me on my work at the bar last night and to apologize for some off color comments he made."

"He couldn't wait another day or call you? If he found out your address he could have found out your phone number too." Amelia also thought that Eric's supposed motives for his visit left something to be desired. But that all changed when Sookie continued.

"And he also wanted to ask me out." Sookie braced herself for what she knew was coming next.

"What!" Amelia squealed in a way that could only be described as questioning, amazed, doubtful, and excited all at once. "Omigod! What are you going to wear?"

Sookie's last thought before going to bed the previous night had come back to smack her in the face. Before Sookie could even being to think about it, Amelia was up running around talking about making a trip to the mall in Monroe. "You know Amelia, I think you may be more excited about this than I am," Sookie said, shaking her head.

Even though Sookie resisted the idea she still ended up being dragged from store to store in an attempt to find the perfect outfit for the night. "You know I have a closet full of clothes right?" asked an exhausted Sookie after being in the dressing room of the fifth store, pulling the seventh outfit of that store on.

"No offense, Sook, but your clothes kind of suck. You can't wear a Wall-Mart outfit out with that man."

"Why the hell not?" Indignation was Sookie's middle name, but she had to admit that she wanted to look nice for Eric. So, she just sighed and opened the door to show Amelia her last outfit.

Amelia's face lit up when she saw Sookie in the dress she had picked out for her friend. It was a light purple sundress with white flowers. The bodice fit snuggly and had a sweetheart neckline, while the skirt flared out at the hip. Sookie had to admit that it was a very pretty dress and that she felt pretty in it. She and Amelia both agreed that they found the perfect dress for the night.

As they were walking to the register, Amelia was still gushing over how nice her friend looked in her dress. Sookie wasn't really paying attention until she heard, "…and another plus is that that dress is really easy to remove when the time comes." Sookie stopped short and nearly choked on the gum she was chewing. She was surprised; she never thought of it before, but was that what he expected tonight? Just a F&F evening that she'd "heard" the fangbangers talk about, just food and a fuck? For some odd reason, just the thought that that was all that Eric would want from her hurt. She remembered the way Eric was talking about humans the night before and she couldn't believe she agreed to go out with him at all.

"How dare he," Sookie Indignant Stackhouse reared her ugly head. "Did he really think I was some pathetic fangbanger? I'm not going anywhere with him, not tonight and not any other night for that matter." She put the dress down on the nearest rack and went storming out of the store.

Amelia couldn't help but roll her eyes as she went after Sookie. She was surprised at how daft her friend could be at times. She finally caught up to Sookie right before she reached the food court. "Honestly Sookie are you thick or something?" she asked, grabbing her elbow. "Do you think he would have come all the way out to the house with some sorry story about wanting to compliment you and to apologize to you if all he wanted to do is get into your pants? If he wanted that, he could have just glamoured you into doing it., He could get sex from any one of those pathetic fangbangers at his bar, they throw themselves at him, quite literally, and it's pretty funny to watch. Not to mention that he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that apologizes often."

Sookie couldn't deny that her roommate had some good points, but she couldn't give up on her anger just yet. "That may all be true, but he is still a jerk and I don't know anything about him."

Amelia couldn't believe just how pig headed her friend could be at times. "Yes he may be a jerk who went out of his way to ask you out. And you may not know him, but you did let him into your home in the middle of the night, so that negates that concern. Besides, the whole point of a date is to change the fact that you don't know anything about a person." Amelia saw Sookie trying to come up with another excuse when she decided to go in for the kill. "Let's not forget that you already agreed to go. To cancel now would be to go back on your word and what is that about Stackhouses and their word?" Amelia finished with an air of confidence; she knew just what buttons to push.

"Did you just pull the Stackhouse card on me, Broadway?" To say Sookie was shocked would be an understatement, but she did feel thoroughly put in her place. "I can't believe your hubris sometimes, and I absolutely hate it when you're right," Sookie said finally, after being unable to counter argument. "I still think this is a bad idea."

"Listen Sook, the time for thinking is over. Just live a little."

"Fine." Sookie let out a huge sigh as she moved back towards the store with slumped shoulders.

"Okay, now that that is settled let's go get that dress so we can get back home, because one of us has to work tonight." Amelia couldn't help but smile at her victory, but she didn't want to rub her victory in too much. "I want to hear all about your date tonight, and I mean every last detail, in depth. If you get home late, wake me up. I don't want to risk you forgetting anything while you sleep," she said as they walked to the parking lot bag in hand. She wouldn't start the car until Sookie promised.

Once the girls got home, Amelia stared to run around getting ready for her shift at Merlotte's. Sookie took the time she had before she needed to get ready to read one of her romance novels in attempt to relax and become excited about her date again.

She said bye to Amelia and allowed her brain and shields to completely relax as she took a soak in her tub. She was so engrossed in her book that she lost all track of time; it was 8 o'clock when she jumped out of tub to get ready. She made a mental note to not read a romance novel before a date again, especially one with a guy she promised herself she would never go to bed with no matter how much she wanted to-- and at that moment, she really wanted to.

She mentally smacked herself for her reading choice when she heard a car coming down her driveway. She looked at her clock-- crap, he was early. She quickly threw on her robe and ran to the door when she heard him knock. If Sookie wasn't already out of breath when she opened the door, she sure as hell was when she saw Eric. He seemed even taller and more handsome to her than he did the night before; she suddenly felt completely inadequate.

He wore black slacks and a crisp blue button down shirt that made Sookie notice the striking blueness of his eyes for the first time. "Hey, you're early," Sookie blurted out the Captain Obvious statement.

"I could wait out here until the appointed time and then knock again." She couldn't tell if he was serious or not, but was stunned that he made the offer. She gaped at him and he turned to walk back to his car, which she noticed for the first time was a red Corvette. She couldn't help but think of what a hard time she was going to have getting out of it modestly; she thought she might have to change her name to Britney before the end of the night.

Her brain finally registered what was happening. "No! No, it's fine. Please come and wait inside." Eric turned to Sookie with what she thought was the most amazing smile.

"Thanks," he said as he walked past her into her living room and took the same spot on her couch that he had the night before. "You look lovely." Sookie felt her ears burn and she knew that she must have been the brightest shade of pink possible. When she finally dared to look at him she saw that he was smiling again. 'Oh, crap,' she thought, 'this is going to be a long night'.

"Um, thanks. I'm not actually done getting ready, but I'll be done in a few minutes. Make yourself at home and I'll be right back." She practically ran back to her room to finish getting ready. Sookie primped as fast as she could; she dropped her curling iron in the sink at least three times, poked herself in the eye with her eyeliner, put a run in two pairs of stockings, and nearly fell over while trying to fasten her strappy high-heeled sandals (she figured she might as well wear them since she was forced to forgo pantyhose). Her near fall made her squeal a bit.

Eric could hear all of the commotion coming from Sookie's room. When he heard the squeal caused by her near fall, he couldn't help but laugh. "Is everything okay in there?" He couldn't hide the amusement in his voice. "Do you need some help?"

"No, I'm fine," she called back. "I'll be out in a moment." Sookie went back into the bathroom, gave herself one last look, and tried to collect herself before walking out to meet Eric. She looked at the clock on her way out of the room, it read 8:30, and she knew that she couldn't put it off any longer. She walked out of her room; at the sound of her door opening, Eric stood to greet her. His smile completely made her forget her earlier misgivings about the date, but it did remind her of the book she was reading shortly before his arrival.

"Wow Sookie, I thought you looked great in that robe before, but you look absolutely ravishing in that dress." She couldn't help the smile that stared to spread across her face. Raised to repay a compliment with a complement, Sookie responded, "You look pretty sharp yourself buddy." They stood there for a moment in silence She found it to be awkward, but she knew that Eric was the type of guy that never felt awkward and that made her feel that way even more.

Eric extended his arm to her. "Shall we go?" Sookie took his arm silently and walked with him out the front door. They made their way to the Corvette; Eric opened the passenger side door for her and helped her get settled into her seat. He got behind the wheel in a flash and then they were on their way. As they drove, Sookie couldn't help but glance over at Eric constantly. Her quick glances became more and more frequent as she became worried by the breakneck speed at which they were moving down the highway.

"Um… please slow down your scarring the pants off of me."

"It's a good thing you don't have pants on then, but I'll slow down," he said with his trademark smile. "I'm not used to having a human in the car." Once she caught her breath Sookie was able to finally speak.

"Thanks… so… where are we going?"

"Well it's a place we could both enjoy called Les Deux Poissons."

"Oh, I didn't know there was a restaurant that serves vampires, but I guess it would make sense since you guys are out of the coffin now."

"Yeah, this one is in Shreveport. I hear the human food there is good too."

There was another long stretch of silence, but this one was far from awkward or panic filled since Eric was now being mindful of the speed limit. Before she knew it they were pulling up to the restaurant. It was in an upscale part of Shreveport. When the car stopped, Eric got out and helped Sookie out of her seat; she was very conscience of how much of her was covered while she got out of the low seat. Much to her relief, all of her important parts stayed hidden.

Eric handed his keys to the valet and they headed to the door. Eric opened the door and stepped aside to let Sookie enter, giving her a smirk and a little bow. "My lady," he said moving his hand in a little sweeping motion. She couldn't help but laugh at his corniness, but she couldn't believe how courteous and polite he was being. 'What happened to the jerk from the bar?' she thought to herself, but she wasn't complaining.

As they made their way to the hostess, Sookie was holding Eric's elbow and was surprised at how well her arm seemed to fit there. "Mr. Northman, what a pleasure to see you again," the hostess said, sporting a million dollar smile. Sookie couldn't help but think about how classy and sophisticated the woman looked. She had her hair up in an impeccable French roll. When the woman stepped out from the behind the booth, Sookie saw that she was wearing the hell out of a very stylish, yet simple, black dress that looked like it was made just for her.

Sookie followed as the hostess led the way to their table while Eric brought up the rear. She couldn't help but feel like the poor country cousin walking between these two gorgeous creatures; the thoughts she was picking up from the hostess weren't helping.

'He never comes in here with a girl; he only ever comes in for business. She's not even that pretty. I bet she just bought that dress, probably the only thing she has that's not from the church collection box. He picks a white trash fangbanging slut over me; I go to that damn club of his all of the time and he never notices me. Wonders never cease.' Sookie couldn't believe that such ugly thoughts were coming out of such a pretty package. She was so caught off-guard, she had to shake her head to gather herself and put her shields back up.

Thankfully they had reached the table. Eric pulled out Sookie's chair and pushed it in for her, then took his place across from her. The entire time she couldn't bear to look at him after what she heard. "Sookie darling, what's the matter? Don't you like it here? If you don't we can leave and go somewhere else." She actually looked around the restaurant for the first time and realized how beautiful it was. It was decorated in shades of cream and gold with red accents in a few key places. There were small flower arrangements at each table along with an arrangement of different sized candles.

"No, it's beautiful," she said, finally daring to look at him. His blue eyes seemed to be full of worry.

"I know there is something wrong, please tell me. I want you to enjoy tonight so you'll agree to let me take you out again." Sookie couldn't believe that their first date had barely begun and he was already talking about another one.

She sighed; she really didn't want to go into it but she knew he wouldn't drop it until she told him. "It was just that some of the things the hostess was thinking about me when she was showing us to the table got to me, but I'm fine now." It took a second for what she said to sink in.

"Wait, what she thought? You mean you can hear her thoughts?" Sookie was hoping to avoid this conversation for a little while longer and began to look around nervously. She was hoping to feeling normal for at least one night with someone that didn't know about her little curse-- well, at least as normal as a girl can feel on a date with a vampire.

"Yes, I'm a telepath." Sookie couldn't help but brace herself for his reaction but he just looked thoughtful.

"Can you hear me?" He sounded a little hesitant and concerned, almost as if he didn't really want to hear her answer.

"Oh, no I can't hear vampire thoughts at all." She shook her head in earnest and he seemed to relax a bit. Sookie couldn't help but hope that the night would get better from here.

"Well that's good then, because it would be cheating if you got to know me by looking into my head while I would have to ask you questions." Sookie let out a sigh of relief. She couldn't help but be happy at how well he took the news; it was the first time ever that a person that she just met found out about her little gift and didn't think she was crazy or freak out. Even her friends took a long time to come to terms with it. Maybe it was because he was a vampire. 'If there are people like us in the world, who knows what else is out there,' she wondered.

"Hello, I'm Thalia and I'll be your server tonight. May get you something to drink?" Sookie nearly jumped out of her seat. She was so deep in thought that she didn't hear her approach. She was pretty flustered and was trying to think of what to drink when she heard Eric ordering a bottle of Royalty Blended for himself and a bottle of champagne for her. Before she could react, Thalia had already left. She was about to reprimand Eric for ordering for her when he put a hand up to stop her.

"Please don't be upset that I ordered for you, you seemed a bit distracted and I didn't think you would have gotten such an expensive bottle of champagne on your own and I wanted you to get something to suit the occasion, so I took advantage of the situation." He smiled a sly smile and Sookie absolutely melted and hated herself for it. 'Why can't I stay mad at him?' she thought to herself. She just nodded her acquiescence.

"I've actually never had champagne before," she confessed meekly. "I'm not much of a drinker actually."

"Well that's okay. I hear that it is quite nice; I've never had it either. It didn't exist when I was human." Her eyes lit up she never stopped to think about the fact that things that seem so common to her have not always been around.

"Wow, I'll make sure to tell you how it is." At that moment she wanted to know everything there was to know about Eric Northman. She shot millions of questions at him only pausing to sip her champagne and eat her dinner.

Eric asked just as many questions and they laughed and talk for hours. They were so caught up in their own little world that they didn't notice that they had finished their respective bottles and that they were the last couple in the restaurant. "Oh my, this is lovely but please excuse me I must go to the ladies room." When Sookie stood up from the table in order to make her way to the restroom she wobbled a bit. Eric was up in a flash in order to stabilize her; he held her a little longer than necessary, but Sookie didn't seem to mind. "I guess I enjoyed the champagne a little too much, huh." She looked up at him still holding her and wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but decided that it must be the champagne talking and reigned herself in. "I think I'm steady enough now to make to the bathroom, I'll be right back." She reluctantly pulled herself away and rushed off to the bathroom.

Sookie skittered off, suddenly in desperate need of the facilities having just drank an entire bottle of champagne on her own.

Once she emerged from the restroom, she realized how much she really didn't want the night to end. She walked up to Eric who had his back to her and softly took a hold of his elbow. Eric smiled down at her and she could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn't want the night to end either.

They made their way out of the restaurant arm in arm and they both made it a point to give the hostess their sweetest and polite smiles farewell. The hostess could not hide her look of disappointment and disapproval at the increased coziness of the pair, but did her best to offer them a smile in return. As they reached the door Sookie very clearly heard the hostess think 'Bitch.' In her more relaxed state thanks to the champagne sweetly turned around and said, "Right back at'cha," with a playful wink. Eric couldn't help but laugh as he went to open the door-- he could only imagine what the hostess had thought to make Sookie respond out loud. But nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. Sookie decided to add insult to injury when she walked through the door Eric was holding open by reaching around him and pinching his butt. Eric jumped a bit in surprise; it truly wasn't something he would expect Sookie to do. She was rewarded with a hearty laugh and a playful pinch in return, as well as a string of expletives coming from the mind of the hostess.

The two laughed all the way to the car. The valet handed Eric back his keys and Sookie couldn't help but be pleased with herself and the night she has been having so far. She knew she would be embarrassed by her actions when she thought about them in the morning, but for now she decided to think about it later and enjoy her new uninhibited state. She was so comfortable around Eric that she felt as if she could let her guard down.

Before she could process what was happening, she was being pressed up along the passenger side door of Eric's Corvette being kissed as if the world was about to end. Sookie couldn't help but give in to his kiss. It was powerful, and passionate, and she had never been kissed like that before. She bet that even if she kissed every man on the planet, she'd never experience a better kiss than Eric's. After a while though, Sookie forcefully brought herself down to earth and regretfully disengaged from the kiss of her life. She rested her head on his chest and sighed; she knew how much she wanted to keep kissing him, but knew it would be a bad idea. He kept his arms around her and she was just enjoying the moment. When she looked up, he was smiling at her gently. "Well lover I think we should get going you seem to be cold." She didn't notice how much the temperature had dropped and she was shivering a bit now that the champagne was wearing off. He reached behind her brining her closer to him and opened her door, and helped her into her seat before he got seated himself.

On the drive back, the conversation was light and neither of them breeched the topic of the butt pinching or the kiss. It was not a discomfited situation, but they felt nothing needed to be said; it was what it was. When Sookie looked at the dashboard clock and noticed that it was just after 1am, she couldn't help but be surprised. It didn't feel like they were in the restaurant for three hours.

Eric actually drove under the speed limit all the way to Bon Temps so the ride was considerably longer than the ride to the restaurant. Sookie was happy for the extra time with Eric. When they finally pulled up to Sookie's old farmhouse, the two just sat in the car for a bit because neither of them wanted to end the night.

Sookie could see Amelia peeking around the curtains of the kitchen window and watching the car. "Well I guess Amelia is still up," Sookie said, unable to suppress a giggle. "I guess she wanted to make sure you got me home safely."

"Yeah, sure she did," Eric said a bit sarcastically.

The two fell silent again. Neither of them wanted to leave, but they both knew they must. "Well," they said simultaneously, and then they couldn't help but laugh. "Ladies first," Eric said. Sookie nodded at him curtly, continuing with the lady/lord game they had been playing that night.

"Well I was going to say that I have an early shift to work tomorrow, so I should be getting to bed. I had an amazing time tonight, thank you so much." She couldn't help but beam at him; she couldn't believe she had ever doubted this man. Just that morning she was trying to find a way to get out of the date and now she was hoping he would ask her out again. She leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. She had begun to move back into her seat to undo her seat belt when he caught her lips again. After what felt like an eternity and a second at the same time, they broke off the kiss. Both would have been breathless if Eric needed to breathe.

"I need to go and check on Fangtasia before going to bed for the day. I do hope that I can see you again sometime soon." Sookie just smiled and nodded her head quickly, unable to hide her excitement and enthusiasm. Eric chuckled and used his vampire speed to leave the car and open Sookie's door.

They walked arm in arm up to Sookie's back door. Sookie went to open her door before turning around to say goodnight to Eric. She hesitated, wanting to ask him to come in, but knowing that that would take her to a place that she was not ready to go. Plus Amelia was hiding in the living room. "So I guess I'll see you later then." Sookie couldn't bring herself to say goodbye because it seemed too final and permanent.

Eric smiled at her and said, "As you wish my lady." He took her hand and kissed it as he bowed to her. Sookie giggled at his cheesiness again, but couldn't help but find it endearing. He straightened up and she curtsied. Eric walked back to his car not looking back. Sookie was happy for that because she knew if he did, she would have begged him to stay the night. She stayed at the door and watched him walk away, only turning away once she could no longer see or hear his car.

Turning back to the house, Sookie hoped to make it back to her room without encountering Amelia. Needless to say, Sookie was happy to see that her roommate had fallen asleep on the couch. She walked over to her friend and covered her with the old afghan her grandmother made. She made her way to her room and got ready for bed. She put on an old sleeping gown and was about to crawl into bed when she thought she heard someone calling her name.

Sookie tried to ignore it, insisting that the wind must be playing tricks on her, but when she heard it again, she couldn't help but be drawn to it. She walked out of her room, went to her living room, and found Amelia still peacefully sleeping. "Sookie…," she heard again. She followed the sound outside to her backyard. She thought that maybe Eric had returned, getting excited by the idea she called out his name, "Eric…"

When the response came she finally recognized the voice.

"_Insolent boy! This slave of fashion, basking in your glory! Ignorant fool! This brave young suitor, sharing in my triumph!"_ Sookie was shocked to hear the voice of her tutor and his apparent anger at Eric's interest in her. She couldn't help the guilty feeling she was having; she didn't want to lose his help. "_Angel! I hear you! Speak-- I listen… stay by my side, guide me. Angel, my soul was weak-- forgive me_. Please let me see you." She has wanted to see the face of the person who speaks to her and helps her through her toughest moments.

"_Flattering child, you shall know me, see why in shadow I hide!_ Look at the cemetery before you-- _I am there inside_." Sookie could clearly see the old cemetery behind her house from her position in her woods and she could see the silhouette of a man. She found herself drawn towards the figure.


	5. The Phantom of Merlotte's

A/N: I would like to thank my wonderful new beta chiisai-kitty who has been so kind as to help me get my story under control. She is the awesomest and I can't thank her enough.

Disclaimer: (I finally remember to do this) I do not own Southern Vampire Mysteries or the Phantom of the Opera (Unfortunately) I am not that smart of creative but hope to be one day. ;)

The Phantom of the Merlotte's

Sookie made her way through the woods and then the cemetery, knowing full well how bad of an idea it was, but the pull of curiosity overwhelmed her. In all of the time since her angel had been helping her, she had never seen him (at least she thought her angel was a him, though it could have been a woman with an unfortunately deep voice). The only other thing that she knew was that her angel only spoke to her at night. She had tried to determine where the voice of her angel was originating from before, but she could never seem to. It was almost as if he was talking directly into her head, but this night was different.

She entered the clearing and found a large old house, a house much larger than her own. It was dark and looked uninhabited save for a single window with light emanating from behind it. She steadied her nerves a bit and tried to use the trick of focusing her special talent the way the angel had taught her to see if she could determine where he was. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and 'listened' for someone. She found no one, but then again she never had during one of their lessons. If Amelia happened to be at home, she could pinpoint her brain, but never that of her angel. She heard her name being called again, but knew for sure that she was hearing it in her head. It was similar to the way she heard the thoughts of her friends, making it impossible to ascertain the direction it was coming from. She thought to herself, '_In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came__…__ that voice which calls to me and speaks my name__…__And__ do I dream again__?__For__ now I __find…__'_ before she could finish her thought, she heard a deep, sweet voice behind her drawl, "_The phantom _of your thoughts_ is there-- inside your mind."_

Sookie turned around with a start so bad that she almost jumped out of her skin and found herself face to… face (?) with her angel. She wasn't quite sure how she knew it was her angel so definitively, but she did. She was feeling the same eerie draw to him that she was feeling towards the house. She wanted to turn tail and run as far away as possible, but knew that she couldn't even if she tried.

The face of the angel was shrouded in an almost silky shadow that seemed to follow him under the light of the full moon. Try as she might, she couldn't make out the features of his face as they circled each other in a macabre dance. This only proved to unsettle Sookie's nerves more-- it was almost as if he was holding her a specific distance away because she couldn't move towards him or away from him. She searched his eyes and found only an abyss threatening to draw her in. She shook herself and decided to try and decipher his form if possible; he was not much taller than her with a medium build. She had taken on larger men at Merlotte's who had gotten fresh with her when they had a bit too much to drink, though those nights she was backed up by several larger men and had the advantage of being sober. He appeared to have dark brown hair that was slicked back. As they continued to circle each other, she noticed that shadow only covered half of his face-- the other half was a hauntingly pale white.

As Sookie looked into his eyes again, she felt the pull again; her angel took her had and lead her towards the house while she stole looks behind her constantly. He spoke again, "Dance _once__ again with me our strange duet__...__ my power over you grows stronger yet__...__ and though you turn from me to glance behind, the phantom of _your thoughts _is there__--__ inside your mind._"

They had entered the house before Sookie found her voice to speak. "It's you, you're the Bar Ghost, but why?" The angel had placed her to sit on the couch before regarding her.

"I've watched you for a long time Sookie, you always seemed to have a different time at it especially as a child. It wasn't until after your grandmother's death that I realized what it was that made you different." The Phantom finally finished lighting the rest of the lamps and candles and turned again to face Sookie. In the increased light of the living room she saw that all of the furniture was extremely old and covered in dust about an inch deep, the cobwebs seemed to grow out of corners and furniture; Sookie didn't want to see how big those spiders must be. She wondered how anyone could live like that.

She looked up at the Phantom in hopes of seeing his face more clearly. To her complete and utter surprise, the seemingly silky shadow that covered the right side of his face while they stood in the moonlight was still in place in the middle of a bright room. She was startled even more when she heard a voice in her head, "You're like me…" he watched her to gauge her reaction; "I can continue to help you and make you more powerful than you can imagine, but you can't do that working at that redneck bar you seem to love so much."

They stared at each other for several minutes. Sookie was searching for answers to questions she could not even begin to formulate in his eye(s); he was looking into her head to try and anticipate her response.

Their silence stretched on for an imperceptibly long time. Sookie never thought that there was anyone else like her in the world, let alone across the cemetery from her. She wanted nothing more than to know more about this mysterious man in hopes that it would shed some light into who and what she was. "What are you?" She knew that this was a rude question to ask a person, especially one that was willing to help her, but she couldn't help herself.

"As I have said before, I am like you," replied the Phantom, knowing full well what she meant, but deciding to evade her.

"Yeah, I got that you can read minds, but what are you?" she almost shrieked, getting up from the couch and creeping backwards towards the door. Before she could make it there, the Phantom was behind her faster than she could see and she bumped into him.

"Oh, dear Sookie, I can do so much more than reading the minds of these feeble humans; I will teach you. People will learn to fear and respect you. Even your pathetic little vampire boyfriend will shit bricks just at the thought of you." The Phantom had managed to back her up to the couch forcing her to sit again with his closeness.

"He's not my boyfriend, and why would I want people to be afraid of me." She was almost hysterical at this point and was trying to think of anyway possible to get out of the house. "I just want to go home. Please, just let me leave.

"But my dear, you are home. I can't teach you all you need to know from across a cemetery, that's not convenient for either of us," said the Phantom as he bent over her to move her hair from her face. He smiled at her and though it was meant to be disarming, it only helped to scare Sookie more because half of it got swallowed up by the shadow on his face.

Sookie reached up to touch the shadow covering his face, but the Phantom grabbed her wrist before her hand was able to finish its journey. His grip on her hand was so tight that she felt as if her wrist might snap. "_Those who have seen __your__ face draw back in fear,_ don't they?" she asked, suddenly feeling tremendously sorry for the creature before her.

The Phantom released his grip on Sookie's wrist, recognizing the look in her eyes to be one of pity; in all of his long life, he had never seen that look directed at him. He retreated from her a few steps; he had planned for every reaction she could possibly have but that one. "Follow me," was all he said before turning his back to her. Sookie still had the desire to leave the house and knew that this would be her best possible chance to do so, but she felt something very strong compelling her to follow the Phantom. Her mind was screaming at her to run the other way and get as far away as possible, but her body pursued him.

They walked in silence down to what seemed like a basement, but then through it and further down and through a series of tunnels. Sookie tried to commit their route to memory, but there was too many turns to keep track of; she knew that there was no way she could find her way out without help. Her mind was still screaming at her to run, but she just couldn't make her body respond.

The Phantom, after finally regaining his composure after the shock of Sookie's pity for him, turned to her and projected, "_And through this labyrinth__,__ where night is blind, the phantom_ of your thoughts_ is here__--_ _inside your mind_." With that, Sookie let out a sob and finally broke free from whatever was holding her. She ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could, but for the second that night, the Phantom moved at a speed too fast for her brain to comprehend and was in front of her, blocking her passage.

"You thought you could run now did you?" the Phantom said with his haunting smile reappearing on his face. "You are much stronger than I thought, Sookie, but never forget I am stronger." He picked her straight up from her biceps and moved her into a large room that smelled of mold. Sookie was afraid to look around her, but knew that she had to in order to describe it to the police if she ever made it out of there.

The room was dark and dank, almost like a cave. She could hear dripping and running water, almost like a stream of some sort, but she knew that there was no such thing in Bon Temps. The room was so dark in the corners that it seemed as if there were almost no walls. The Phantom had placed her not-so-gently to sit on what felt like a bench of some sort; she could feel the coolness of the seat seeping into her body through the thin nightgown she was wearing. She could hear the steps of the Phantom echo as he walked away from her. He went to stand in the middle of the room and made a swift motion with his hand and as if by magic, the room seemed to set ablaze. She realized that the room was not on fire, but that there were candles on ever flat surface and many candelabras around the room that had all been illuminated at the same time.

She was now able to see what appeared: a platform with a bed on it in the shape of a swan. Next to it was an area curtained off with red velvet to match the sheets on the swan bed. Before she could look around more, the Phantom was standing in front of her again. He crouched down to regard her at eye level. "As much as I like surprises, you will not be trying to run off again. Is that clear? You will just sit there and not move or talk until I tell you to; we have much to talk about."

A/N: I'm becoming increasingly self-conscious about this story so please review me I want to know what you guys think. Also I am looking for a beta so if you are willing or know someone who is please let me know. Thanks for reading.


	6. Music of the Night

Music of the Night

Sookie felt as if she was glued to her spot on the bench, the same feeling that compelled her to follow the Phantom was holding her in place but it felt much stronger now.

Her brain screamed at the pressure that was being placed on it causing her to break out into a cold sweat and silent tears.

"Come now Sookie, it's not that bad, I promise you will come to like it here." The Phantom said sitting next to Sookie and brushing her tears away from her face with his thumb. She wanted to flinch away from his touch but couldn't budge. The Phantom chuckles softly hearing her mental struggle to free herself form his control. Moving in closer to Sookie he says, "If you don't, no matter I can always make you like it." He leers at her as he moves his hand from her face and moves down her body ghosting over her breast and finally brining it to rest on her upper thigh.

Sookie was so disgusted and enraged that she found the strength to push against the pressure in her brain enough to jerk away from him and scream, "Get your hands off of me, you will treat me like the lady I am!" Before she knew what happened Sookie was flattened to the floor and felt as if she was being pressed to death like she remembered happened to the old man in the Crucible. The pressure in her brain was now at an all time high, she felt as if he head was about to explode and the sheer force of it nearly impossible to think.

"Sweet Sookie when will you realize that your resistance is futile?" Sookie could hear the Phantom tisking at her while the pressure ratcheted up making it impossible to maintain consciousness.

******

When Sookie awoke she felt at total peace, the pressure on her brain was gone and she was able to move freely. She thought that it all had been a terrible dream and just wanted to shower the remnants of it away. When she move to do so she realized that her sheets felt different, she shot straight up and noticed that she was between the red velvet sheets of the swan bed. Sookie was pleased to find that she still has her nightgown on, at least there was that.

All of the candles were still lit but the Phantom was nowhere in sight. Sookie debated whether or not to get up and try to find a way to escape from her subterranean nightmare. She found herself stricken by fear remembering the way she was completely held still by whatever it was that the Phantom did to her hours before. She had no idea where he was and whether or not he was watching her and she dare not provoke him to do it again until she had devised a plan.

Sookie looked around the room again after resolving herself to playing the role of the submissive and eager student the next time she saw the Phantom I an attempt to get him to lower he guard. She got off of the bed and made her way over toward desk that stood not too far from the hideous swan bed. She had not noticed it the night before; she actually no idea as to what time it was or how long she has been down there. Upon approaching the desk she saw a note addressed to her written on what appeared to be old fashioned stationary. The heavy weight cream colored paper was closed with a wax seal in the shape of a skull.

Sookie hesitated a moment before opening the note, it read:

"Dearest Sookie,

I hope this note finds you well. We seemed to be off to a bad start and I hope that tonight we will get along much better. There is some food on the table near the bench. I expect to find you in a more amiable mood when I see you again. Please rest well and make yourself at home.

BG" (Bar Ghost)

Every cell in Sookie's body wanted to do the complete opposite of what the noted had instructed her to for the sheer principle of it, but her desire for self-preservation won out. She figured that she would stick to her previous plan and just play along with his game until she found an opening.

She made her way over to the table with the food and found a wide assortment of fruits, cheeses, crackers, and fruit juices; as hungry as she was Sookie couldn't ring herself to take anything from the Phantom. She made her way back to the ridiculous swan bed and tried to relax and after a while she was able to fall into a fitful sleep.

Sookie woke to the feeling of her hair being gently smoothed, it reminded her of her Gran would smooth her hair when she was a child and was sick. She tried to sit up but the had kept her in place. "You are quite beautiful when you sleep Sookie, I can very much get used to seeing you in that state," said the voice of the Phantom from behind her. She could feel her skin crawl from the thought but had to try to keep these feeling out of her thoughts seeing as the Phantom is privy to them.

Sookie closed her eyes tightly hoping that he would be gone when shoe opened them again; no such luck. She tried to sit up once more and was happy when the Phantom let her. As the sheet falls away from her she is once again relieved to see that she was still clothed.

Sookie looks back behind her to see the Phantom "smiling" at her. "You didn't eat, your going to need your strength." The Phantom made a big gesture of swinging he legs off of the bed as he gets up. He offers his hand to Sookie to help her scoot off the bed as well and moves her towards the table she found earlier. The grumbling sounds produced by her stomach betrayed her hunger to the Phantom who gave her a knowing smile.

The Phantom sat Sookie down on the bench from the night before, but on this night it was only her will kept her there. She didn't take her eyes off of him while she reached for the food. When she actually began to eat she couldn't believe how hungry she was, she finished all of the fruit and cracker and much of the cheese before she knew. She tried to find a way to think two lines of thoughts at the same time one was the line she wanted to feed the Phantom since she didn't know if he was listening and the other was formulating an escape route. She found a way to compartmentalize and she hoped that she was projecting the right thought pattern. The Phantom was still being calm and his version of kind so it seemed to be working.

Sookie was surprised with herself that she was able to such things but frankly she never had to living in Bon Temps. She worked so hard to try and fit in with the people of her town all of her life that she never for once thought to try to broaden her gift. She resented her genuine thought that maybe meeting the Phantom was a good thing, and that possibly he was right she was stronger than she knew but she refused to let him be the one to teach her.

"Good now that you've had your sustenance are you ready to begin?" The Phantom said in a tone that could almost be mistaken for chipper.

Sookie barely had the chance to nod before she felt the pressure begin to build again in her head. It started very mildly but it was still annoying as all get out. "Push me out Sookie. _I have brought you to the seat of _your mind's _throne to this kingdom where all must pay homage to_ your mind."

Sookie closed her eyes focused as hard as she could she cleared her mind off all thoughts and "pushed" against the wall that she felt was closing in around her brain. After she figured out how to do it, it became easy to push against the Phantom's influence. When she opened her eyes again she looked up at the Phantom and smiled triumphantly.

"Sookie, can you feel my influence?"

"No," Sookie said with a laugh "not a thing."

With an approving nod the Phantom said "Good" and walked away known the corridor behind her. When he returned he sat what appeared to be a music box with a monkey playing the tambourines sitting atop it onto the table in front of her. Sookie looked at the music box questioningly but decided to say nothing because getting out was more important than figuring out why he brought the box to her.

The Phantom seemed to take a deep breath before speaking again. "Do you know why we do this at night?" Sookie shook her head slowly she had no idea it was nighttime but she assumed it was.

The Phantom continued, "_Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation, darkness wakes, and stirs imagination, silently the senses abandon their defenses. Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor. Grasp it; sense it, tremulous and tender. Turn your face away from the garish light of day, turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light; and listen to the music of the night."_

Sookie was surprised at how captivated she was by his words. She couldn't help but think that under different circumstances she would have been willing to stay with him for a while to learn from him, but he blew that possibility too hell by his actions last-night.

He continued, "_Close your eyes and start a journey to a strange new world, purge all thoughts of the world you knew before. Open up your mind let your fantasies unwind, in this darkness, which you know you cannot fight; the darkness of the music of the night. Let your soul take you where you want to be; only then can you belong to me…"_

That caught Sookie's attention. She was mad at herself for letting her guard down the way she did. Startled out of her trance Sookie was able to focus again she was able to feel the slight hint of the Phantom's influence pressing upon her mind. It wasn't as she felt it the night before when it felt more like a command to heed to his will, now she felt more like a subtle suggestion almost as if he was shaping her thoughts. Apparently while in her daze the Phantom had brought Sookie to stand very close to him, her back was to his chest and his arms were on her hips while he swayed her to an inaudible tune.

"…_Floating, falling, sweet intoxication. Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation. Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in to the power of the music of the night."_ The Phantom stopped swaying Sookie and she turned to face him with a look that she hoped seemed glazed over yet full of adoration.

Before speaking she closed her eyes and with as much force as possible pushed the Phantom out of her mind. She must have used more force than she thought because the Phantom stumbled back a few steps. "If I do anything it is because I want to, not because you made me think I do." So much playing the part of the eager student but there is only so much she could take.

To say the Phantom was socked would be an understatement. Before Sookie could blink he was face to face with her again. "I beg to differ." He says in a voice so low it is almost a growl. He grabs Sookie by the arm and drags her up to the platform the swan bed sits on and steers her to stand in front of the curtained off area she saw the night before. The Phantom stands in front of it and rips the curtain down in on swift movement saying, "Welcome to your future Sookie."

Sookie comes face to face with a life size replica of herself, it was so life like she would have sworn she was looking into a mirror if it wasn't for the fact the doll was wearing a weeding dress. Recognizing the implications of it all Sookie passes out for the second night in a row.


	7. Prima Donna

**A/N: I have to apologize for the incredible delay between chapters, a lot has happened for me since I started writing this and it has been a struggle to keep up from jump-street. For those of you that do not wish to continue with me I completely understand and for those that are sticking by me I thank you from the bottom of my heart.**

**I would like to thank my beta chiisai-kitty she has been more patient with me than I deserve and without whom I really would not have gotten this out. I also need to thank lollytrublood who's PMs helped to light a fire under by behind and forced me to sit down and think about this story when I really didn't want to.**

Prima Donna/All I Ask of You

"Where the heck is she Amelia?" Sam practically screamed, he knew it wasn't like Sookie to just not show up to work.

Amelia had been worried about her friend; she hadn't seen her since her date with Eric. She was so consumed with guilt since she talked Sookie into going on the date that she hardly has been able to think.

"I don't know Sam, the last time I saw her was before she went on her date with Eric." Amelia cringed as soon as she said it. She didn't think that Eric would have done anything to Sookie; if she did, she wouldn't have encouraged her roomie to go, but she knew Sam wouldn't see it that way.

"She did _what_?" Sam practically screeched. Amelia couldn't hold her guilt-fueled tears back any longer.

"I knew he wanted to talk to her but I didn't think she would actually go anywhere with him," Sam said, running his hand through his perpetually messy hair. "I figured he wanted to offer her a job, I knew she wouldn't take it. I never thought he was interested in her _that_ way."

Sam plopped himself into his chair as Amelia plopped down into the seat in front of his desk. "I know she made it home though," Amelia said after a long silence, "the dress she wore was in her hamper and her bed was no longer made."

Amelia was still trying to wrap her head around Sookie's disappearance, when the door to Sam's office flew open and Arlene's acerbic voice filled the room.

"You called me, Sam. I knew it was only a matter of before you got tired of that blonde twit and came to your senses." Both Sam and Amelia cringed at the way Arlene was talking about Sookie, but Sam knew that he need to butter Arlene up if he was going to make his dinner rush on a game night run smoothly. He also knew that Eric was due back at the bar tonight and needed to show him that he could run a successful bar. Eric had planned to invest in Merlotte's and since the bar had been in the red for quite some time now, Sam didn't want to lose his patron.

As much as it pained him to do so, Sam had to play to Arlene's vanity in order to get her to work for him again.

"Arlene, I'm so sorry. I made a huge mistake. The bar has not been the same without you."

Arlene just rolled her eyes, but you could tell she was eating it up. "The customers miss you…I miss you." Sam could feel the bile rise into his mouth as he groveled but he knew that it needed to be done. "I implore you, please come back, you know as well as I do that this bar would fall apart without you. I'm just so sorry that it took me so long to realize it."

There was a long pause as Arlene thought over what Sam said during his pleadings. Amelia felt torn between thinking Sam was a complete jerk for turning his back on Sookie the way he had been talking to Arlene and thinking he was a good actor because Arlene seemed to be eating it up.

"Alright Sam I'll come back, but you owe me."

Sam sighed, visibly relieved, saying, "Of course Arlene. What would I ever do without you?"

"Um, this place would shut down without me and you know it," she said, winking and walking out of the office.

Not knowing how to respond to what just took place, Amelia decided to excuse herself by saying, "Well I have get to my tables," before practically running from the room.

Amelia skidded to a stop when she saw who was sitting in her section.

Eric was sitting in a corner booth, looking more menacing than anything Amelia had ever seen before. If he looked like that the night Sookie met him, she would have locked her friend in her room with a stasis spell.

Hoping to go unseen, Amelia turned around to sneak back into the hall before Eric could see her.

"Come here, witch," Eric seethed from his corner.

The bar sunk into a still quiet as Amelia made her way over to the vampire's table. She tried to hide her fear by putting on a cheery smile and avoiding looking at the gleaming white canines in front of her.

"Hiya there, Eric, is there anything I can get you today?" She said down to her writing pad.

"Sit," Eric growled, and Amelia promptly plopped down into the seat across from him.

"Where is she?" With Eric leaning forward the way he was, Amelia could not help but stare at his constantly elongating fangs.

"I thought she was with you?" she squeaked out, barely above a whisper. The growl that followed gave Amelia her answer.

Letting go of the breath she was holding, Amelia sunk back into her seat. "Well if she's not with you, I have no freaking clue where she is. I heard her come in the other night after your date, but I was really tired so I didn't go downstairs to talk to her. Then I heard her go out again; I just assumed you came back. I fell asleep again and before I knew it, it was morning.

"When I didn't see her the next morning I got really nervous but I didn't know what to do. I couldn't call you since you would have been sleeping or whatever it is that you do during the day and when I didn't want to call Sam because I knew how he would overreact and want do some shiftery thing that wouldn't help to find her."

Amelia finally took a breath, stealing a look at Eric. The look he was giving her told her that she had to get to the point quickly on pain of death, so she did.

She whispered again, "I cast a spell that took me to this old house across the cemetery from ours, we've both gone on walks and headed that way before but have always been too afraid to go inside. I thought maybe she took a walk over there that night and got tired went in and took a nap, but I couldn't get in. The place is warded and even I can't get through them. I called my mentor but she hasn't gotten back to me yet with any information.

"I called the police and filed a missing person's report but they haven't turned anything up yet either."

Amelia couldn't hold back her tears any longer as thoughts of all of the terrible fates her friend could have met flew through her head. Eric shifted in his chair, slightly uncomfortable with the leaking witch in front of him.

"I'll help look for her, but I'm going to have to talk to that boss of yours first."

Amelia watched as Eric rose to his considerable height and could definitely see why her roomie went out with him.

After taking a moment to collect herself, Amelia actually got around to her tables. She was sickened watching Arlene soaking up the attentions she was getting while someone she supposedly cared about was missing.

Finally finding her rhythm again Amelia slung food and beers not even realizing the time that has past. "Arlene you can handle and Holly can handle to floor for the rest of the night right, okay, good, great; Amelia come back here please." Sam called from the hall startling Amelia causing her to spill Hoyt's Dixie Draft down the front of her uniform.

Amelia walked back to Sam's office blotting her shirt with a bar towel. She was startled by seeing that Eric was still there and looking rather smug for some reason. "Yeah, Sam?"

"Eric has requested that you be given the rest of the night off to help look for our Sookie." Eric shot Sam a look, but he seemed unfazed.

"Okay then, let's go," Amelia said, pulling Eric through Merlotte's employee entrance.

"Let go," Eric said between clenched teeth.

"Sorry," Amelia said meekly. "I just really want to find her."

"Me too."

**A/N2: Please review! I need to know if your still out there, even if its just to tell me that I should never write another word again in my entire life I want to hear from you.**

**I finally know where I am going with this so the updates should be more frequent than they have in the past. **


	8. All I Ask of You

Sookie was running, she didn't remember exactly when she began nor could she feel the thin braches scraping at her face and legs, or the broken pieces of old headstones cutting her feet. Running was all that she could focus on until she made it to the clearing that held her old farmhouse.

Being home didn't remove the urgency she felt, she ran up the porch steps to her door before she realized that she did not have her key on her; she thought she would returning to her home right away however many nights ago it was when she ran out into the cemetery.

Sookie pounded on the door calling for Amelia who wasn't responding. Panicked she sunk down onto her knees on her welcome mat.

Sookie didn't know how long she sat there sobbing before she heard the rumble of a car's engine coming down her drive much too quickly. She scuttled over into the corner of her porch gathering her now tattered nightgown around her to protect her from the brisk fall breeze.

"I'm not just going to wait here while you go out looking for her, she's my friend and I will help look for her." Amelia said trying to match Eric's stride up to the house.

With his vampire speed Eric was on the top step staring down at Amelia who to her credit walk right up to him in an attempt to meet his eyes.

"You will stay here in case she returns, I will try and track her sent."

"Oh, so what are you some sort of bloodhound now, Mr. Big Scary I Can Do Anything Vampire. Get off of it." Amelia practically snarls while pushing past Eric to the door.

Grabbing her arm tightly Eric stop Amelia's movements Eric continues through gritted teeth, "I will not have you speak to m-" A small sound coming from the corner of the porch cut Eric off mid thought.

Amelia nearly fell do to the abruptness with which Eric released her to go over to Sookie cowering in the corner behind her porch swing.

"Sookie where have you been?" Eric unintentionally yelled before he reining his anger in. He was so taken off guard by the feelings that were reawakened in him when her heard that Sookie had gone missing that he did not have complete control over himself.

Pulling back a bit Eric took in Sookie's ragged state. "Sookie," Amelia screeched practically bowling Eric over to gather Sookie in her arms. "I was so worried, how dare you do that to me." Amelia cried.

Amelia sat there rocking her friend who still seemed to be in a mild state of shock until Sookie began to shiver slightly.

"Lets get her inside and get her cleaned up." Eric prompted to bring Amelia back to the present. He could tell that the two were very close by the way Sookie held onto Amelia as if she were the last life preserver on the Titanic, and this made the small brunette a little easier to tolerate.

Eric followed the two inside and at once felt as if he was intruding on an intimate moment between two friends. "I'll start her a bath." Eric says in an effort to give the two women some space. Following Sookie's scent through her bedroom he found her ancient bathroom. He would normally be appalled at the thought of someone living in a house that was in such a state of disrepair as Sookie's was but instead he thought the house had character and fit her perfectly.

Turning the taps on he made sure the water wasn't too hot and put some sea salt into the water that he found sitting next to the tub. Remembering the sight of Sookie's bloody feet scratched legs Eric bit into his wrist letting some of his blood fall into the water. He swished his arm through the water in order to clean it of blood and added some Mr. Bubble to the water to hide its pinkish tinge, before turning off the water.

He was making his way through her room to go back out to the living room when he decided to look for some clothes to put out for Sookie, he knew he was over stepping his bounds but couldn't help but think that Sookie wouldn't mind. Finding a soft white cotton bra and panty set as well as a pair of sweat pants and oversized t-shirt he set the clothes along with a fresh fluffy towel onto the toilet and headed back to the living room.

When he returned Sookie was rapped in an ugly afghan, but she is looking less frazzled then she did before. Her feet were in a pail and he didn't have to look at the water to know that it was murky from the mixture of blood and dirt.

Noticing Eric's presence Amelia looks up from her crouched position examining Sookie's battered feet. "Come on Sook lets get you into the tub."

"No its okay Ames, I can do it." It was then when she finally looked up at Eric. "Thanks for coming to look for me, you didn't have to do that."

Eric gave Sookie his charming smile even though his heart wasn't in it. "Now it wouldn't do if my dates started going missing now would it. Besides if you were nowhere to be found I could not ask you to go out with me again." He said waggling his eyebrow at Sookie.

Amelia snorted but Sookie giggled giving Eric the effect he was going for.

Sookie bent over to dry her feet wincing when her washcloth touched the tender areas. Standing she says, "I may be a while, I feel like I need a soak in the worst way." She tried to smile but even to her it seemed strained; she began to moving towards the bathroom slowly limping slightly as if she were trying to avoid putting all of her weight on to her feet. Eric stood to assist her, "No, Eric it's okay I can make it."

Eric sat back down and watched her back as she made the journey to the bathroom and waiting until he heard the door close before turning his attention to Amelia.

He looked back to find Amelia glaring at him. "You can go now, I can take care of her from here." Amelia barked at him.

"I'll leave when Sookie tells me to." He replies with a crooked smirk.

At that Amelia huffed throwing herself to sit back on the couch and crossing her arms.

The silence stretched for what felt like forever to Amelia but who could blame her when she had 6'5" Viking vampire sitting across from her staring her down.

"What?" She says tartly after not being able to stand the pressure of Eric's gaze any longer.

"Where was she?" Eric says in a cool even tone even though he was feeling anything but.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Amelia replies indignantly and a little bit embarrassed since in her haste to get Sookie cleaned up.

"So you mean to tell me that you didn't ask her?" Eric said having a hard time to keep his anger in check. Amelia only looked down at her hands and nodded shortly. Eric was about to light into Amelia when the sound of the bedroom door brought him up short.

Sookie made her way to the living room looking a lot better than she had when Eric and Amelia found her on the porch an hour ago. Eric couldn't hide his smile when he saw that she was wearing the clothes that he picked out for her.

"Hey guys", Sookie said sounding worn out and taking a seat next to Amelia. "Thanks for taking care of me, I feel so much better."

Amelia and Eric couldn't help but smile at her knowing that they would both do just about anything for her and ask for nothing in return. This realization took Eric a back but he decided to think on it another.

A silence crept between the trio that quickly became awkward. Eric sighed unnecessarily realizing that he would have to be the one to get the conversation started. "So where were you Sookie and why did we find you hiding behind your porch swing?" Eric asked trying to keep the ice out of his voice and failing.

Sookie tried to will back the tears that welled when she thought of her ordeal but failed miserably. Crying silently she told Eric and Amelia every detail she could remember about her ordeal from the very beginning.

When Sookie finished her story Amelia and Eric were both struck dumb. "Oh my, Sookie that's awful we need to call the police they need to find this creep."

"I don't think this is something the police can handle do you. I mean this thing can literally turn your mind against you; that Andy Bellefluer is slower than molasses going uphill in winter, do you really think that he change against what ever the heck this thing is?"

Eric started to pace while Sookie and Amelia state in silence trapped in their own thoughts. After a few minutes he finally spoke. "I have heard stories of others of my kind that have powers like this, but nothing to the degree that you have described." He didn't stop his pacing as he continued to speak. "I will go out to the cemetery to the house that you described to see what I can find out. I will not go into the house until I know exactly what we are dealing with, or until I have sufficient back up."

Sookie almost flew out of her chair. "No. Eric don't you dare even think of going near that place, what if he can do to you what he did to me. Just because your some big bad vampire doesn't mean he can't get you too."

"And how did you get out of there again?" Eric asked for what felt to Sookie was the thousandth time.

Sookie sighed before answering the question again. "When I woke up on that god awful Swan bed I went over to the table that he kept the fruit and there was a note, it read:

'_Dearest Sookie,_

_ You must return, that fool that runs the bar will be missing you._

_Yours Always,_

_Bar Ghost'_

"I saw that and high tailed it out of there as quickly as I could. It took me a while to find the right tunnel but I finally made it out." When Sookie finished she looked as if she just finished running a marathon, the little bit of energy she had regained to shout at Eric quickly dissipated.

Eric walked over to Sookie and placed his hands on Sookie's arms and bent down to look her in the eye. "It is sweet of you to worry about my safety, but I am very old and there is very little that can hurt me. Besides he won't be looking for you since he told you to leave." He kissed her gently on her forehead before rising to his full height. "I am just going to see what I can find out from around the property, then I'll come right back here and tell you what if anything I have learned."

Eric starts to move towards the door. "What the heck are we supposed to do while you're out there?" Amelia asks making Eric stop. It was then that Sookie's stomach growled loudly. The blush that spread across her cheeks made it impossible for Eric not to smile. "You and your friend have some dinner. I'll be right back."

"Promise you won't go in there." Sookie yells as Eric is walking out the door. The closing door pauses and a soft "I promise" comes through before the door is closed behind Eric. He wasn't exactly sure why he promised, he wasn't planning on going into the house this night, but there was something about the fact that she asked that made him want to reassure her.

Amelia and Sookie moved over to the kitchen were they each a made plate of the previous night's leftover chicken fried steak and collard greens. They sat in companionable silence while they ate, neither had realized in all of the excitement just how hungry they were or tired for that matter. They washed and dried the dishes putting them away. Amelia noticed how sluggish Sookie was.

"Sook hun, go get some rest and I'll tell you what Eric found in the morning." Amelia prompted putting an arm around her friend and leading her to her room.

"I'll go lay down but I want you to send Eric in when he gets back, there is no way I will be able to get any sleep without knowing what he found out, even if he doesn't find out anything."

Amelia sighed but knew better to argue with Sookie on this. Sookie got tucked into bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.

Eric comes back into the house to find Amelia sitting on the couch alone watching **The Real Vampires of New York. ** "Do you think Bethany and Jill will ever be friends again?" Eric asked from his spot leaning against the door jam.

Amelia jumped about a foot out of her seat and looked like the scared cats from the Looney Tunes cartoons that hang upside down from the ceiling with their hair sticking up.

"I didn't hear you come in." Amelia gasped trying to catch her breath.

"I gathered that."

Rolling her eyes she says, "Sookie went to lie down but she wants to hear what you found, says she can't wait till morning to find out." She gives Eric a measuring look before continuing, "I'm going to bed now, and lock up before you leave."

Amelia heads for the stairs as Eric makes his way back to Sookie's room. This is not the way he imagined being invited to her room but he'll take what he can get.

Moving through her kitchen he can hear her voice, mumbling so softly that even with his vampire hearing it is hard to make out. He zips over to her room and just makes it to the partially open door when Sookie's voice starts to get louder and more urgent.

Eric walks into the room to find Sookie thrashing against her sheets.

"Sookie, Dear One. Wake up, it's okay." Eric soothes trying to rouse Sookie from an apparent nightmare.

"Eric? Oh God, I thought I never really got out of there." Sookie takes in a raged breath and begins to sob.

Sitting down onto the bed Eric gathers Sookie to his chest whilst he tries to calm her. He starts the first song that comes to his mind.

Sookie's tears slow then she begins to giggle. "Chiquitita? Really I never pegged you for an ABBA fan."

Eric couldn't help but chuckle a bit himself. "I was actually kind of hoping that you wouldn't recognize the song. And what can I say, their Swedish, I have to support my fellow country men." He says with a shrug.

Sookie can't help it as her small giggles transform into loud guffaws. "My gran used to sing that song to me when I needed cheering up after my parents died. She was a huge ABBA fan."

She couldn't help but snuggle herself closer to Eric's chest as she tried to regain her composure. She wasn't the only one that didn't want to break the contact; Eric was reveling in Sookie's closeness and scent. It took a lot more will power than he wanted to admit to refrain from licking her tears from her delicate face.

Once Sookie calmed down Eric backed away to look her in the face. "I have to tell you what I have found." Sookie nodded wiping the last of her tears from her face and Eric mourned their loss.

"As I feared the scent of vampire is strong at that house and so is the smell of magic. I am even more concerned because there has never been a record of a vampire living in this part of my area, this kind of oversight and blatant act of disrespect cannot go unanswered. My search of the grounds shows that there has been work done to the area directly behind the house recently. Your scent and the scent of the phantom are the only two present on the property. And a search from above showed no obvious tunnels that come near to your house."

Sookie was stunned there was so much information to take in and so many questions to ask like, how did he get a view from above? And what did he mean by his area? But for now all Sookie could do was nod lamely and move down her bed to rest her head on her pillow.

Eric moved to put his back on the headboard. "I want you to leave here for a little while." Sookie inhaled to speak but Eric cut her off. "I know that you don't like the idea but this thing already knows where you live and your staying her is only asking for more trouble. Do you have family you can stay with for a while?"

Sookie sat up again. "I'm not letting some freak chase me out of the home that my family has lived in for over 150 years. And the only family I have left is my brother Jason and I would rather eat my own shoe than go to stay with him."

"Why does your brother not take care of you? What kind of man would leave two women to live out here on their own?"

Sookie snorted, "The kind that thinks that hanging around his kid sister would cramp his style with women. And besides, Jason would lose his own head if it weren't attached."

"Since your poor excuse of a brother will not look after you, and you will not leave here even for your own safety, I will stay and watch over you at nights and I will find someone to watch you during the day."

Sookie was about to argue when Eric silenced her with a kiss. She was startled by his action at first but decided to go with it. Pulling back from kiss Eric looked at a breathless Sookie and smiled. "Have to make a few calls but I'll be right back. Eric went to get up off of the bed when Sookie's hand shot out to grab his wrist.

The panic flooded back into her face. "Please, don't leave yet. Stay, at least until I am asleep again?"

Eric said nothing as Sookie released her grip on him. She closed her eyes ashamed at how broken and needy her voice sounded to her ears, she assumed that clingy traumatized woman routine caused Eric to keep walking, not that she could blame him since he is only staying since her brother is worthless and he feels duty bound to protect her. The sound of Eric's boots hitting the ground snapped Sookie out of her melancholy thoughts.

The bed depressed and Sookie was face to chest with Eric. He had apparently taken off his shirt and jeans as well and was climbing into the bed next to her. "Lie on your other side Lover." Eric whispered. It seemed the right thing to do given their current closeness.

When Sookie rolled over Eric brought her tightly to his chest, and Sookie felt safer than she has since she her gran was alive.

"What if we can't find a way to get rid of this thing, do you think moving would really keep me safe or would he come after me." Sookie started to voice her fears, finally feeling as if she didn't have to be so strong anymore. For whatever reason she felt as if she could trust Eric to help her through this and to be her shoulder to lean on.

"Shh, Dear One. _No more talk of darkness, forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you, my words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom, I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you."_ Eric whispered into Sookie's ear as he gently started to stroke her hair.

His words touched Sookie more than she thought words ever could. A fresh batch of tears sprang to her eyes but for the first time they were not born of her fear. In a voice that was barely above a whisper Sookie replies, "_Promise me that all you say is true, that's all I ask of you."_

Eric presses a kiss to her temple before rolling her over to face him. _"Let me be your shelter, you're safe, no one can find you. Your fears are far behind you."_ The sincerity in Eric's eyes makes Sookie's heart swell.

"_All I want is freedom, a world with no more _fright._ And you always beside me to hold me and to hide me."_ She didn't know where the words were coming from but she knew that they were true. Even though they had just met there was an undeniable connection and she never wanted to lose him.

"_Then say you'll share with me one love _this _lifetime, let me lead you from your solitude. Say you need me with you here beside you, anywhere you go let me go too. _Sookie _that's all I ask of you."_

Sookie smiles up at him. When they first met a few nights before she never would have thought they would ever be at this place, or so quickly. But looking into his eyes she knew it was right. _"Anywhere you go let me go too, love me that's all I ask of you."_

Eric bent down to kiss Sookie, it was slow and reverent. It held the promise of many kisses to come as well as other things. Sookie was completely lost in him and never felt so complete in her life, Eric was the piece of her that she never knew was missing and now that she had him, she would let nothing tear them apart.

Eric finally broke the kiss off smiling down at his beautiful Sookie, "You need to sleep now Lover, it has been a long night for you. We will make a plan tomorrow night." Sookie simply nodded and waited for him to get comfortable so that she could burrow into the crook of his neck. Never in his thousand years did he ever think something was missing from his existence until this night when he found it sleeping beside him in Sookie Stackhouse.

Sookie drifted off to sleep and Eric into downtime both enjoying their newfound serenity and love. Neither noticed the shadow of a man peering through the window.

"_I gave you my _gift_ made your _soul_ take wing, and now, how you've repaid me: denied me and betrayed me. He was bound to love you when he _saw you smile." The phantom softly sobs Sookie's name into his hands before running across the cemetery to his home. Filled with rage he bellows, "_You will curse the day you did not do, all that the phantom asked of you." _

**A/N: Sorry for the delay as usual, I have no excuse. I am sans beta on this one so please forgive its roughness. Let me know what you think.**


	9. All I Ask of You Reprise

**A/N: This chapter just did not want to happen but I hope it came out okay. I no longer have a beta for this story so all of the mistakes are mine, I hope they aren't too distracting.**

The smell of coffee forced its way through the fog that was Sookie's sleep addled mind. She stretched slowly not feeling as sore as she expected. Confused Sookie surveyed her body and her disappointingly empty bed to find that the scratches on her legs and arms that were there the night the before were barely visible now and a folded note on her pillow.

Following her nose, note in hand to the kitchen after freshening up Sookie found Amelia sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. "What's the story, morning glory? Wow, Sookie you look like crap." Amelia said in her typical cheery morning voice. "I thought a night with tall, blonde, and dead would have fixed you up right?" She continued winking at her friend.

"Amelia Gretchen Broadway, you know me better than that." Sookie shrieked as her face flushed. "Nothing happened, honest." She continued in response to Amelia's incredulous look.

"Well then my friend you're an idiot because I'd hit that even though I think he is a highhanded jerk." Amelia replied in a tone that matched the look on her face.

Sookie placed her mug of coffee down onto the table a bit too forcefully sloshing some of the brew onto the note before responding, "Well sorry if I had other things on my mind last night that did not include getting into Eric's pants. And he's not a jerk." She added that last part in a voice that was barely above a whisper but it did not escape Amelia's notice earning Sookie a raised eyebrow.

Taking the time to look at Sookie again Amelia realized that even though her roommate did look like crap froze over she looked way better than she did the previous night hiding behind the porch swing. It was hard for Amelia to reconcile the almost catatonic person she found outside last night with the Sookie that she had come to love as a sister. She wanted nothing more than to catch the creep that reduced her friend to such a state and feed him his own balls, but after what she saw the night before she may have to wait in line after one Eric Northman.

She was having a hard time getting to sleep given the events of the night so she decided to go downstairs to Sookie's room to check on her. The door was cracked a bit but before she could push it open further she heard a soft voice singing. Against her better judgment she peeked in to see Eric curled up behind a sleeping Sookie stroking her hair and singing to her. This shocked Amelia so much that she nearly fell over she never thought she would in a thousand years see a vampire being so gently with someone and seem to care so much for someone they had only just met. Amelia backed up quickly and returned to her room before she could be discovered. She wasn't to sure what exactly she could do to help protect Sookie from whatever it was that had her but Amelia was confident that Eric would do everything in his power to keep her friend safe.

The phone ringing broke Amelia out of her thoughts.

"I'll get it." Sookie said jumping up, grateful for a break in the increasingly awkward silence. For the first time she glanced at the clock. 11:30, she was never one to sleep in but she figured after the night(s) she had she deserved it.

"Hello," Sookie couldn't help the hesitance in her voice, she still didn't know exactly how long she had been gone or the full extent of people's reaction to her disappearance.

"Cher, oh thank god." The frantic voice of Sam Merlotte came through from the other end. "Where have you been, Northman called to say you were back and fine, but I wouldn't believe it until I heard from you myself."

Sookie had to cut him off before he could continue to bulldoze over the conversation. "I'm fine Sam, I don't really want to talk about where I been or what happened just yet but I'm fine and I can come in for my shift tonight."

"Oh no you don't, you stay home and take care of yourself. Rest up. I want you be ready for our annual masquerade party next Friday, to come as a guest of course, it wouldn't be the same without you." Sam said in a strained voice. In a calmer voice he continued, "And just remember Cher, when you are ready to talk I'll be here. And don't worry about work, when your feeling up to it you can come back, you will always have a job here no matter what."

Deeply touched Sookie tried to reply while keeping her voice from breaking. "Thanks Sam, that means a lot to me. I'll talk to you soon okay." With that they said their goodbyes and hung up.

Something about speaking to Sam broke something open in Sookie. The wall she put up in order to block out her ordeal came crashing down. All of a sudden she couldn't she couldn't keep it in any longer. Sitting down next to Amelia she rested her head on he friend's shoulder and told her of everything through a torrent of tears. All Amelia could do was hold Sookie and promise that everything will be all right and that she is safe from now on. The promise felt empty to Amelia but she didn't have anything else to offer.

They moved into the living room so that Sookie could lay down with her head in Amelia's lap. "This all sounds so farfetched even to me, there is no way we could go to the police with this. Andy Bellefleur already thinks me to be crazy, he would try and have me put away if he caught wind of this."

"Don't worry about that Sook, we will figure something out and this thing will not get a chance to hurt you again."

The two remained silent for quite some time watching TV but not really registering what was on and taking comfort from the presence of the other when they were interrupted by a knock at the front door. Sookie bolted upright, fear gripping her. She looked over to Amelia who just looked puzzled.

"Well it's not Jason 'cause he would just walk in through the back, and Sam has no reason to come here since he knows you're back. So who the hell could it be?"

Sookie cast out her mental net and only found a snarly jumbled mess of thoughts, the only other time she has come a cross a mind like this was Sam. The difference here was that the few thoughts that were coming through were full of annoyance and seemed to revolve around Eric.

"I'll get it you stay here." Amelia said making her way to the door.

Amelia opened the door and Sookie could see a tall bolder of a man standing about a head over her. He had dark mussed hair that looked like it laughed in the face of combs, broad shoulders that were hunched a bit in order to bring him down closer to Amelia's height. He was well muscled but not in a he goes to the gym twice a day way, more in the way that men look when they do physical work for a living. His skin was tan so the work he did was probably outside. Sookie could hear from Amelia that she too took notice of the man at their door and didn't mind what she saw at all.

"Hi," he spoke, his voice gravely and deep. "Sheriff Northman sent me. Are you Amelia Broadway."

Amelia just gapped at first before finding her voice, "That's me but who are you and why did he send you?"

"Sorry, I'm Alcide Herveaux, I was sent to look after you and Ms. Stackhouse until Northman or one of his vamps get here."

Amelia turned to look at Sookie raising a questioning eyebrow. Sookie just nodded to indicate that it was okay to let him in, she had been listening in on him and from the little she could get she could tell that Alcide had no malicious intents even if he didn't want to be there.

"Come on in then, would you like something to drink?"

"That would be nice thank you." Alcide said stepping into the house.

He looked even bigger to Sookie now that he was walking towards were she was rooted to the couch. "Hi there, I'm Sookie Stackhouse." She extended her had for him to shake and when his large hand encircled her small one she noticed how extraordinarily warm he was.

"So you're here to watch out for us, sorry to disappoint you but I don't think we are going to be very entertaining." Sookie said with an apologetic smile.

Alcide couldn't help but return her smile finding her endearing, _How did such a sweet girl get mixed up with vamps?_ He wondered, "There's no need to be sorry, I'm sure we'll be just fine. Sheriff Northman just wants me to make sure no one gets near the house."

"Why do you keep calling him Sheriff?" Sookie asked trying to listen into him to see if she could catch something else but it was no use.

"He didn't tell you? He is kind of in charge of the vampires in this area"

Just then Amelia entered the room with three mugs of coffee and Sookie's note. "You left this on the table Sook." She said handing Sookie the note and a mug.

"Sugar, I forgot all about that." Sookie took the note and figured she better read it lest she get any more surprises.

**Dear Sookie,**

**I hope you slept well. I have arranged for a Were by the name of Alcide Herveaux to watch over you and your roommate during the day, so do not be alarmed when he arrives. **

**At first dark I will be there. There will also be someone from my retinue on your grounds to keep and eye out for this phantom. **

**It would be best if you kept your excursions outside of your house to a minimum and when you do have to leave please bring Herveaux with you. **

** See you tonight,**

** E**

"Hmpf, I guess I should have read that earlier then." Sookie said mostly to herself.

Amelia settled on to the couch next to Sookie when I thought came to her. "Hey, if Eric is sheriff or whatever of the vamps, why are you here. Your obviously not a vamp so how could he get you to do this?"

Alcide sighed and took a sip of his coffee. "We'll my dad got into some trouble a while back at the casinos, he gambled too much at one of the casinos in Shreveport and Northman being the owner bailed him out so that we wouldn't lose our construction company." He said looking ashamed bit resigned. "He may be a bastard in most things but when it comes to supporting supe businesses he's pretty decent. So he called me in to do this to pay off my father's debt."

"Wow," Sookie took a moment to absorb that, she didn't really know anything about the man she shared her bed with the night before, but she couldn't see past what she saw that night.

Lost in her thoughts Sookie didn't notice when Amelia changed the channel only tuning back in after hearing both Amelia and Alcide laughing. "What's so-" Sookie couldn't help but laugh herself when saw that Amelia, put on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"Ha, ha, very funny Ames."

"Hey, is Eric your Angel? If so don't sleep with him or he'll turn all evil on you." Amelia teased. She laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her seat; she did with a little help from Sookie's elbow. Alcide lost his battle with his laughter at that time.

"Shut it the both of you." Sookie said picking up the mugs to put into the sink. From the kitchen she could hear that Alcide and Amelia were still laughing so Sookie gave them time to calm down and washed the small about of dishes that had accumulated.

After returning to her seat on the couch the three found a companionable silence in which they enjoyed what ended up being a Buffy marathon.

"Sookie, sweetie, wake up." Amelia was gently nudging Sookie awake. "Go lay down, you must still be a bit sore and what not. I'll wake you when dinner is ready."

Sookie nodded and made her way to the bed, she was asleep again before her head hit the pillow.

The sound of her shower turning off caused Sookie stir.

She rolled over to see a very naked Eric walking out of her bathroom. "Oh, I didn't mean to wake you." He said while walking over to the chair by the window toweling off his hair.

Sookie could not get words to form. She had thoughts, boy did she, but she couldn't get a single sound escape her lips. That was until Eric bent over to get into the duffle bag that she just noticed was on the chair. She couldn't prevent her gasp when she caught site of the best ass she has ever seen; not that she had many to compare it too.

Eric just turned to her and winked before continuing to get his clothes from the bag.

Sookie squeezed her eyes shut tightly trying to will down the heat she felt in her cheeks; and lower.

"It's okay you can look now I'm dressed." Eric said unable to hide the amusement in his voice.

Afraid that he might be lying Sookie snuck a quick peek and was relieved to see that Eric was in fact fully dressed. Sookie just stared at him with big eyes.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you. If I knew you would be waking soon I would have taken the bag into the bathroom with me." Eric said looking sincere despite the amusement that was clear in his voice.

"Um, yeah next time please do that. Not to say you will be showering here again, or that I don't want to see you like that again, or not saying that I will or…but."

Eric simply laughed at her fumbling and rose from his seat next to her on the bed.

"I think I know what you mean. Come I think your friend made you dinner, you should eat something."

"Um yeah let me just run into the bathroom and I'll be right out."

Sookie made a dash from the bathroom. She wanted to get as far away from Eric and what she just saw as fast as possible. She squeezed her eyes shut again while resting her back against the bathroom door in an effort to calm down but all she could see was the perfectness of Eric's butt and his strong back. The heat crept back up to her face causing her to sigh in exasperation.

Opening her eyes she found a sight that was a lot less pleasant. The bathroom was a mess. The mirror was fogged up; there were muddy footprints all over, and handprints, and wait is that a butt print? The floor was wet and almost every towel she owned was on the floor, some so dirty she didn't think they could ever get clean again.

Angry she took care of her human business and made her way into the kitchen. Eric was talking to Amelia while drinking a Tru Blood. He turned to face her as she entered the room. His face quickly lost its smirk when he saw the mood Sookie was in.

Sookie marched over to him and snatched the bottle from his hand and poured it down the sink. Amelia gasped in surprise while Eric simply raised a questioning eyebrow. It was an eyebrow she wanted to lick but she was too mad for that.

"Why is there mud all over my bathroom, and wet towels all over my floor?" Sookie asked barely able to keep the fury she felt from her voice. She took great pride in her home and refused to have it be anything but clean at all times.

She took the time to look around the kitchen and nearly screamed. "And there are more muddy footprints in my kitchen, what the hell did you sleep in a hole in the ground or something?"

At this Amelia was unable to keep her laughter in any longer. She though the sight of her friend berating a giant of a vampire for making a mess was just priceless.

"As a matter of fact I did. Since I'm going to be watching over you until we find a way to defeat this phantom of yours I doesn't make sense for me to travel back and forth to my home. Seeing as you do not have a space in your home that is fit for a vampire to rest in I have to go to ground." Eric finished his ire rising. How dare this girl talk to him in this way? He is looking out for her best interest and she has the nerve to criticize him for his cleaning habits.

Sookie took a breath, she didn't take into account that he is doing her a favor and that he has special needs as it were when it comes to sleeping arrangements.

"I'm sorry that I don't have anywhere more comfortable for you to rest for the day, but come on my bathroom is a mess did you just expect me to clean up after you?" She asked incredulously.

"Um…" Eric started but was cut off.

"Wait you did expect me to clean up after you?" Sookie felt her temper flare again and started marching towards a now standing Eric."

"Listen here buddy, I may be a lot of things but I am no one's maid. I appreciate all that you're doing for me but don't disrespect me by disrespecting my home or my things." At this point Sookie was poking Eric in the chest. He would have been amused by her tenacity if he weren't so pissed.

"If you need to sleep in the dirt that's fine but at east hose off before you come in."

Eric growled at this. "I am not some dog!" His fangs dropping made Sookie take a step back.

"I didn't mean to imply that you were a dog, we just need to find a better way to do this so you don't make such a big mess." She replied, trying to defuse a situation that could quickly get out of hand.

Seeing the look on Sookie's face caused Eric regained himself and retracted his fangs. He didn't know why but seeing her afraid and knowing it was of his doing made him unhappy.

"I didn't mean to frighten you, it's just that I haven't eaten tonight. You see I was about to eat when this girl I know came storming into the room and spilled my breakfast down the drain." Eric attempted a joke in an attempt to cut the tension in the room.

Once again Sookie flushed, she was tired of it happening too. And mumbled a "sorry" before turning to the fridge to get another Tru Blood for Eric.

Seeing that their little verbal tennis match was over Amelia decided it was safe to remind Sookie and Eric that she was in the room. "Um Sook, there is some dinner for you in the oven. It's still warm." She said her head reeling from their little argument. She couldn't help but smirk at herself since neither could seem to stay mad at the other.

Sookie brought her plate and Eric's blood to the table, where the three sat in a pleasant silence enjoying their meals.

"So, you're going to clean it up right?" If there is one thing Sookie never learned it was when to leave well enough alone.

Eric raised that eyebrow again, while Amelia nearly chocked on her water. They both thought Sookie would leave it alone, and apparently they were both wrong.

"It will be cleaned" was Eric's response and that seemed to be good enough for Sookie.

Amelia looks between the two confused as all get out as to what just happened. For what its worth though they were the most entertaining thing to happen in her life in a long time.

Sookie was just finishing up her dinner when a knock came at the door. The sound made Sookie jump dropping her plate as she was bringing it to the sink. Eric was able to catch it in time before it fell however.

"Shoot, sorry about that. I don't think he would come knocking but I'm still a bit on edge."

"It's okay Sook, I'll get it." Amelia said getting up leaving Eric to soothe Sookie.

If hot people were all that Amelia would see opening this door she might just try and make a living out of it.

"I knew it was a good idea moving in here." She said smiling up at the beautiful blond in front of her. She had on a tight black PVC skirt with a corset in the same material. The skirt was knee length and led the eye down to a pair of red pumps that were the same shade as her lipstick. Her hair was pulled back into a severe French roll. All she was missing was a riding crop; Amelia thought then her outfit would be complete.

"Is Eric here?" The woman asked in her slight British accent.

"I'm right here Pam." Eric said entering the room with Sookie in tow.

Pam stood there eyeing the group waiting for her invitation. "Well are one of you going to invite me in?" She drawled clear bored with the situation.

"Come in." Amelia nearly shouted smiling brightly and fixing her hair. Sookie couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had seen this act before Amelia found her prey and nothing was going to stop her from getting it.

"Well what do you want Eric, I can't be away from the bar to long or the vermin will get restless?" She said, eyes never leaving Sookie. She was trying to figure out what it was that had his master so intrigued.

He turned around and walked towards Sookie's bedroom. Confused as to what he could want Pam in there for Sookie and Amelia followed. The caught up just as Eric was opening the door to Sookie's bathroom.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Eric did you leave a clean towel in the house? I thought you would have learned not to make such a mess anymore." Pam sighed exacerbated.

Eric jut shrugged and said, "I need it cleaned up, and the footprints in the kitchen."

"Clancy is right outside why can't he do it?" She countered.

"If he's in here then who will be watching the grounds?"

"Oh, wait you want her to clean it? What kind of caveman bullshit is that? Besides you can't just make her clean your mess like that, it's not fair."

Pam was surprised that the little human was actually sticking up for her. Maybe she was seeing why Eric wanted her around.

"She's my progeny she'll do as I command her." Eric said as if it was the end to the conversation.

"But its not her mess, she's not going to clean up after you." Sookie stood in front of Pam as if to protect her from Eric. Pam was amused while Eric felt his ire begin to rise.

Taking an unnecessary breath in an attempt to reel in his anger since he never thought violence against women was acceptable Eric spoke through gritted teeth. "Pamela, would you mind finding me a cleaner." Why was he putting himself through such lengths for this woman? Following Sookie's glare he continued "Please."

Pam let out a hearty chuckle that quickly morphed into a full belly laugh. "Oh, she must be great in bed for you to be whipped like this." She said finally regaining a bit of her composure before whiling the bloody tears from her eyes and continuing. "Can I have a go?"

Eric growled as he moved a red faced Sookie away from Pam. "Priceless." Was all Pam said while taking out her phone and beginning to speak in hurried rushed tones.

Was Sookie satisfied? No. He turned to face Eric, "Who do you think you are bossing people around like that. Just because you're Sheriff or whatever doesn't give you the right."

He was over her little outbursts so in a voice that was almost a growl he bends to be eyelevel with her and says. "As a matter of fact it does." Sookie shivered but not for the reason Eric expected, he couldn't help the smug smirk that came across his face.

"Uh, I guess I'll go and check on Pam." Amelia said before scurrying from the room.

The two were left to stare at each other for several moments trying to figure what they have such reactions to the other when Pam re-entered the room.

"The cleaners will be here shortly, so if you two are done I fucking each other I'm leaving now."

Sookie looked away first. "It was nice meeting you Pam." She said not forgetting her manners.

Pam smirked but on a face that was not used to such actions it seemed more like a grimace, "If you continue to have such an effect on my master I just might let you stick around." Sookie didn't know if that was a threat and just smiled. Eric however growled as she sauntered out of the room.

"Some nights I don't know why I turned her." He sounded like an exasperated father with a teenaged daughter despite the smirk on his face.

Confused by Eric and Pam's relationship Sookie headed into the living room to find Amelia watching TV. Not knowing what else to do the 3 settled in together quietly and watched whatever happened to be on the screen.

Before she knew it Sookie felt strong arms lifting her up, she had fallen asleep on the couch again. Looking around she noticed that Amelia had gone, "Your friend went to bed about an hour ago. The cleaners just left so it's safe for you to go to bed now."

She nodded before nuzzling into Eric's broad chest. He relished the feeling of her there and much preferred a sleeping Sookie to an argumentative one, but found her alluring either way.

Setting her down on the bed Eric was mesmerized. She looked so peaceful as she breathed deeply through partly open lips, her face smooth and serene. He stood there watching her, taken. Her features started to change after a while, he smooth brow furrowed, her lips opened further to take in gasps of air. Her hands, which were gently resting on her stomach and chest, were now clenching the sheets.

He didn't know what to do as he watched as her once pleasant dream morphed into something else entirely. He was rooted to his spot until she started to scream. Rushing to her side he started to try and rouse her. Nudging her slightly at first then shaking her by her arms. He held her thrashing body to his chest calling her name.

Amelia came bounding into the room looking stricken. "What's wrong with her." She shrieked in a panic coming to a skidding stop in front of the bed.

"I don't know I thought she was having a bad dream but I can't wake her."

Amelia rushed from the room returning shortly with a satchel. She took out candles, and incense, and things that Eric did not have the time to identify. She lit the candles and incense while murmuring words so low that it was hard even for him to pick up.

The thrashing slowed but Sookie would still not wake. "What did you do witch?" Eric demanded, angry at having no control in this situation.

"It was just something to calm her down. I will have to contact my mentor about this and she what she says though, this was all I could think of on such short time."

Sookie continued to settle but would not stir. "Oh, please don't be mad at me Sookie." Amelia said before rearing back and smacking Sookie across the face.

Eric dropped fang and hissed at the witch for striking his Sookie as she started to cough and sputter.

Slowly she opened her eyes before looking around frantically. She calm a bit when the realization that she was home hit her.

"Are you okay Sook, you had us so scared." Eric didn't like the fact that Amelia included him in that statement but it was not the time to argue.

"It was Him." That was all she said be fore dissolving into tears.

Eric rocked her as Amelia took a seat in the chair by the window. The sounds of Sookie crying and Eric soothing her filled the room. He lay with her stroking her hair and wiping her face. Shortly before dawn she fell asleep; extricating himself from her as smoothly as possible in an attempt to keep her from waking Eric went to seek a place to take his daytime rest.

Before he could reach the door her breathing picked up again. "Eric, Eric where are you going?" He was by her side instantly, her frightened eyes imploring him to stay.

"I'm sorry dear one, but I have to go to ground if only so I can track more mud in tomorrow for you to yell at me." He offered her a smile but even he knew it looked sad.

Her tears started again. "Hey sweetie, I'll stay with you if you like?" Amelia offered.

Sookie nodded her head silently and went to lie back down, Amelia spooning up behind her much like Eric had. Before leaving the room Eric wrote Sookie her note and this time one for Amelia as well.

He kissed Sookie softly on the head and left to what would prove to be his most fitful daytime rest in 1000 years.

**A/N2: So please let me know what you think, I'm trying to make it believable that the Christine character (Sookie) would pick the Raoul character (Eric) over the phantom who has yet to be identified, since I never got it in the play.**

**Also if anyone would like to become my new beta or could suggest someone that would be AWESOME**

**Thanks**


	10. Masquerade

**I would like to start by thanking my new beta ShadoKat, she was awesome enough to offer her help and I can't thank her enough.**

**Time Line:**

**Eric comes into Merlotte's Friday night**

**He and Sookie go out on their date Saturday night**

**Sookie meets the phantom late Saturday night/Early Sunday morning**

**Tuesday, Sookie returns**

**This chapter starts Wednesday**

**The party at Merlotte's takes place in a week and 2 days from the beginning of this chapter.**

Amelia didn't know what to do. She really thought Sookie would be safe in her own home, but to see her thrash about like that was surely proof that she wasn't. Sookie was sleeping but it was fitful at best. The slightest sound, be it the birds waking at dawn or the random sounds of an old house, would startle her. Sookie did, however, fall soundly asleep shortly before Alcide arrived.

Hearing the truck pull up the gravel drive, Amelia reluctantly pulled away from her friend. Sookie was feverish and small beads of sweat decorated her brow. Despite this, Amelia pulled the comforter further up on her shivering roommate's form.

Alcide was just about to knock when Amelia opened the door in a rush, afraid for the sound to wake Sookie.

"Is there a reason there is a dead vampire in your irises?" Alcide said this with such a straight face that Amelia almost didn't register the words.

She flung the door open further, running out to stand on the lawn. There it was, a congealed mess of red guck. Just by looking at it she wouldn't have known what it was, but she would take Alcide's word that it was vampire remains.

Against the wishes of her stomach, Amelia took a step closer to examine the scene. There really wasn't much to look at - just blood, what looked to be some connective tissue, and the clothing the vampire had been wearing. Amelia let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw that the pants seemed to be a pair of Dockers, the pleats made more pronounced by the blood, not the track pants Eric had on the night before. The shirt might have been a Henley but she could definitely tell that it was long sleeved, so it wasn't the tank top Eric had been wearing.

She didn't know how she was going to deal with the issues Sookie was having already, and was beyond glad that she didn't have to inform her of Eric's demise as well.

Amelia made her way back into the house and plopped down into her usual chair at the kitchen table. Alcide, who had been waiting for her, handed her a mug of coffee and asked, "So what's that about?"

She heaved a sigh. "I wish I knew; I haven't even fully wrapped my head around everything happening to Sookie, and now there is a dead vampire in our flowers. At least it wasn't Eric; he seems to be the only one with any kind of plan."

"Oh, it wasn't." Alcide said from behind his mug, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Real smooth, wolf!" She said, smirking at him. "It would be really convenient for you if he were gone, but alas the Sheriff is still amongst the living dead."

Not remorseful in the slightest, Alcide gave Amelia a smirk of his own. "It would be advantageous to my family if the Northman were finally dead."

"Yeah and I bet it wouldn't hurt at all that it would free Sookie up." Amelia volleyed, raising one carefully manicured eyebrow.

Alcide was silent, unable to find a comeback.

"That's a nice shade of red you are wearing there wolf!" Amelia said with a wink, rising to get breakfast started.

Moving over to the sink, she found a note addressed to her and one addressed to Sookie propped up next to the coffee maker. Absurdly curious, she ripped hers open.

**Amelia,**

**Please keep a close eye on Sookie this day; her episode last night has me quite concerned.**

**Upon leaving this night I have found that one of my retinue, Clancy, has met his final death in your Irises. He was set with the task of patrolling the property; apparently something came close and killed him whilst he was investigating. I will see to it that his remains are cleaned up when I rise, but I would ask that you keep this information from Sookie. I do not wish to cause her any undue stress.**

**Also, I have asked the Were to build for me a proper resting place within your home, preferably at the bottom of Sookie's closet. This would only be if the both of you agree to it, and if Sookie agrees to let the Were into her room. If you or Sookie think there would be a more suitable location for the resting place, feel free to change it.**

**I will be there at first dark once again tonight. My child Pam will be arriving shortly thereafter to stay with you and Sookie whilst I take care of some pressing matters.**

**E**

Amelia placed the letter back onto the counter and took a minute to let it all sink in. Something was able to sneak up to the house and take out a Vampire, and had gotten as close as mere feet from the front steps! What had stopped it from coming closer? Had it come closer? Did it have anything to do with Sookie's "episode," for lack of a better word, last night?

The sound of Alcide clearing his throat from beside her roused Amelia from her reverie. "Are you alright?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, um… I need to go upstairs and check something out and make a few phone calls." And before he could respond, Amelia took off in a dead sprint towards the stairs, note in hand.

Shrugging, Alcide started to rummage through the cabinets and the refrigerator, looking for something to make for their breakfast.

Sookie was slowly roused from the worst sleep of her life by the scent of bacon and French toast. Reluctantly, she rolled out of bed and dragged herself into the bathroom. With the water as hot as she could stand it, Sookie got into the shower. She would have much preferred a long soak, but the constant grumbling of her stomach would hear none of it.

Once sufficiently clean and covered haphazardly in shorts and a shirt of Eric's, she made her way into the kitchen. She didn't know how the shirt got there, but Eric's scent calmed her and helped to lessen the pounding she was feeling in her head.

The sight that greeted Sookie as she entered the kitchen was a nice one; even she had to admit that. Alcide's broad back was to her; she couldn't help but watch as his butt shook from side to side as he scrambled the eggs. Sookie was tempted to go back to bed since it seemed that there was always the butt of a handsome man to welcome her when she woke.

The sound of her stomach's protests to its emptiness snapped her out of her reverie, and alerted Alcide to her presence.

"Good morning! I heard that you had a rough night; how are you feeling?" Alcide asked while plating food and bringing it over to the table for Sookie.

"Morning. I'm feeling okay I guess; I just have a bit of a headache," she said. Going over to the coffee maker, she continued. "You know you didn't have to make breakfast, but thanks," she said, offering him a shy smile.

"I know, but Amelia is busy. Honestly, I was hungry and didn't know when you'd be waking, so I helped myself." Alcide said, returning her smile.

"Is there enough left over for Ames?" Sookie asked. Alcide nodded to a plate that had already been made. He went to put it in the oven to keep warm as she went over to the table with her drink and note in hand.

Breakfast was quiet. The only thing that disturbed the quiet was the scraping of utensils on plates and the occasional yelp, curse, or bang from Amelia's room. The sounds were normal for Sookie and indicative of Amelia's more manic moods. Alcide, on the other hand, was deeply concerned and tempted to go up and check on the little brunette.

Since Sookie seemed unconcerned, he just went about clearing the dishes.

"Since you cooked I'll do the dishes," Sookie said, rising from her seat.

"Oh, no you don't!" Alcide said, fixing her with a stern glare. "I'll take care of it; you take it easy today. Besides, Amelia would have my hide if she found out that I let you do anything."

Sookie sat back down looking a bit guilty. "I must have really worried her last night."

Alcide's face softened. "It doesn't seem like a lot fazes that girl, but whatever went down here last night must have been hardcore to spook her so bad. But it's just 'cause she cares about you," he said, and turned around to start on the dishes.

She knew it was irrational to blame herself, but Sookie couldn't help but feel responsible for the events of the night before. If Amelia was freaked, she could only imagine how Eric felt! She wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want anything to do with her ever again. But if that was the case, Alcide wouldn't be here right now, unless Eric had forgotten to tell Alcide not to come since he'd left so close to dawn.

Suddenly Sookie had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn't want to read her daily note for fear it was Eric saying that he would no longer be coming around. Steeling her nerves with a deep breath, Sookie unfolded the letter.

**Dear One,**

Sookie let out the breath she was holding when she read the salutation. He wouldn't call her Dear One and then decide he never wanted to see her again…right?

**I hope you found some peace this morning after the events that took place last night. I promise you that my people and I are doing all that we can to find the phantom and dispose of him as swiftly as possible.**

**Amelia, as it turns out, is a very powerful witch. She was able to put a spell of some sort to get you to calm down last night, and she is going to see what else she can do to help.**

**Also, I hope you don't mind that I've asked the wolf to construct a light-tight space for me in your house, preferably in your room. But if you are not comfortable with that, it can go anywhere else you like, if you permit. If this is agreeable to you, please let the wolf know so that he may begin work as soon as possible.**

**Please try and get some rest this day and I will see you when my child and I arrive at first dark.**

**E**

Sookie was thoroughly relieved that Eric was still committed to helping her. Without him she had no idea how she would deal with her situation, even though Amelia apparently would have been a great help to her in that case, just as she was last night.

Speak of the devil. Amelia came barreling down the stairs with a large hobo bag full of books, and what could only be described as ancient tomes in her arms. She raced for the door and flew through it, slamming it behind her.

Alcide and Sookie raised an eye at one another in a question that neither had the ability to answer.

After a beat Sookie said, "So, you're going to build a hidey-hole huh?"

Alcide couldn't help but chuckle at the name she gave to the vamp's sleeping space, and he once again wondered what it was exactly that she was doing hanging around a man such as Northman. What had she done to get him to want to spend so much time, energy, and resources? If it was about sex, which he seriously doubted, it couldn't be that good for Eric to be so invested. She was just too innocent to do the things he was thinking would be necessary to keep a thousand year old vamp entertained.

Catching the thought from his head, Sookie spoke without thinking.

"Trust me Alcide, anything I do would be more than adequate to keep his attention, and then some. Not that it's any of your business," she huffed, not knowing why she felt the need to make Alcide think she wasn't quite so innocent but following though with it nonetheless.

Feeling completely abashed, Alcide stuttered out an apology. "I'm so sorry Sookie; I completely forgot that you could hear me."

"My ability to hear your thoughts is of no consequence, Alcide. You shouldn't be thinking about me in that way, or anyone for that matter."

"I'm really sorry Sookie! I really didn't mean any harm by it. I'm just tryin to wrap my head around the situation, and given his reputation, that was just the first thing that came to my mind. I'm really sorry."

Alcide hoped that Sookie could see the contrition on his face. Apparently she did, because the hand that was placed on her hip slowly moved away, and her breathing seemed to be slowing down while her complexion returned to its original golden tan color.

"Fine!" Sookie said, after counting backwards from ten. "I would like Eric's hidey-hole to be in the closet in my room so that its not visible to anyone that goes in there."

She continued talking about what she would like for the hidey-hole while she walked back to her room. She knew it was rude to turn her back on Alcide the way she did, and that she was treating him like the help, but she was trying to keep her temper reigned in.

After clearing out the bottom of the closet so that Alcide could see what he had to work with, Sookie felt exhausted. She hadn't done much for the day, but she also hadn't gotten much sleep. Seeing the exhaustion on her face, Alcide made a suggestion.

"Hey Sookie, why don't you make your way up to Amelia's room and try and take a nap? I'll bring you up a glass of water and some aspirin for your headache." Sookie nodded mutely and made her way up to Amelia's room. In the 2 years that they had been living together, Sookie might have been in the room a total of 3 times.

Sookie didn't even have the energy to look around as she took off her shorts and threw herself down onto the bed. Alcide was in soon after with the glass of water and two small brown pills. Alcide held his breath as she swallowed them down, hoping she didn't realize he had given her Tylenol PM. He really didn't want to trick her or take advantage of her in any way; he just wanted to make sure that after she fell asleep she stayed that way in order to get the rest she so desperately needed.

He stood in the doorway to Amelia's room and watched as Sookie's breathing evened out. Her brow furrowed and her lips parted, but she looked like an angel as she slept. Alcide had noticed how beautiful Sookie was when he first met her, but he seemed to be struck by it all over again, and more forcefully as she lay on her best friend's bed asleep.

'_No wonder the Northman would do anything to keep her safe_' He thought to himself as he went down the stairs to begin work on Eric's hidey-hole.

Sookie knew she was tired but was surprised at the ease with which she fell asleep, and the depth of her sleep. Even so, it still felt like it was too soon before she was being gently nudged awake by Amelia.

"Hey, Ames," she croaked, wiping the sleep from her eyes. The sun was very low in the sky now, casting long shadows throughout the unfamiliar room. Sookie was surprised she'd slept for so long.

Finally registering what she was seeing, Sookie was started by the appearance of her best friend, so much so that bolted upright in the bed.

"Geez Amelia; what happened to you?" Sookie screeched.

Amelia's normally very neat and serious bob was windblown with bits of dried leaves in it. There was mud on her clothes; she looked and smelled as if she lost a fight with a wildfire.

"Good to see you're feeling better. Now if you would be so kind as to scoot, I need to get cleaned up. Alcide made dinner if you're up for eating something."

Sookie started to get up from the bed, searching for where she'd dropped her shorts, when she was brought up short.

"Wait; he cooked again?" She asked, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

"I know right? And it's pretty good! Can we keep him?" Amelia gushed. Of the two of them, Amelia was not the cook. She would rather clean the house four times over in one day than cook past boiling the water for one of her weird teas.

Sookie just giggled as she put her shorts on and walked out of the room, shaking her head. She was glad to be feeling better than she had earlier.

When she entered the kitchen, Sookie was greeted by the same sight she'd seen that morning: Alcide's broad back. Only this time his backside was wagging due to his vigorous washing of a pot. The vision before her was quickly forgotten, however, when she smelled the food that was waiting for her.

The plate of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob seemed heaven sent. She hadn't realized that she was hungry until that moment, and her stomach decided to let every inch of the house know it. So once again, just like that morning, Alcide was alerted to Sookie's presence by the growling of her empty stomach.

Alcide just smiled at her, letting her know that the plate was for her. He got her a glass of sweet tea from the fridge before sitting across from her. He watched as she ate, and was thoroughly pleased to see how much she enjoyed his cooking.

The two fell into friendly chatter, with Sookie complimenting Alcide's cooking and him being humble. They talked about movies and music, and Sookie was engrossed to the point that she didn't hear the garden hose turn on. Alcide felt guilty that this conversation had an ulterior motive. As much as he was enjoying himself, he'd gotten a text moments before Sookie came downstairs, asking him to distract her as Eric cleaned up the mess that was once Clancy.

Sookie was still talking animatedly when the door to the back porch opened. She was so absorbed by the conversation that she didn't even hear it. The looks of shock then thinly veiled amusement that crossed Alcide's face were the only thing that clued her into the fact that something had changed behind her.

Turning around, Sookie's breath caught at what she saw. Eric was standing only a few feet into the kitchen, soaking wet and clad only in a small pair of boxer shorts. She held her breath as she watched a drop of water leave his hair, slide down his handsome face, down his neck to his chest gliding quickly around one nipple. It continued down the washboard that was his abs and ended by dipping underneath the waist band of his boxers. Sookie knew that the droplet was absorbed by the fabric, but she couldn't help but let her imagination wander as she pictured the rest of the drops' journey, then picking up the trip another drop was taking down one of Eric's masculine legs.

Alcide clearing his throat shook Sookie from her ruminations. The look on his face now was far from amused, and Sookie couldn't help but color at being caught so blatantly ogling Eric. She struggled to find the right thing to do in this situation.

"Um, I'll get you a towel," she managed to stammer out after a while and hightailed it into her bathroom.

She used the time away from the two mountainous men in her kitchen to regain her composure, and reluctantly made her way back into the kitchen. She found a startling tableau there. The men where mere feet from each other, Alcide visibly vibrating with anger while Eric managed to look both smug and pissed off at the same time, probably aided by the fact that his fangs had run down.

Sookie had the feeling that she had just walked in on something she wasn't meant to see, and had everything to do with nothing other than male ego.

Trying to diffuse the situation, Sookie walked in between the two men and handed Eric the towel she'd brought in. He looked at her as if he was just seeing her for the first time that night, and the look of concern and relief that crossed his face both surprised and delighted Sookie.

"I'm glad to see you are better Lover; you had me quite worried!" Eric might have been the person most surprised by his admission, but he knew that he wanted Sookie to know how he felt when it came to her.

He reached out a wet hand to cup her face gently, and was delighted when she leaned into it.

"You're such a lucky little so and so; do you know that, Stackhouse?" Amelia said from the entry of the kitchen, looking at what was essentially a sookiewich.

"Shut it Ames!" Sookie said, finally looking away from Eric's eyes.

"Wolf, don't you have something to show Amelia?" Eric asked in a weak attempt to get the two out of the room.

Alcide growled deep in his chest before storming out of the kitchen, pulling Amelia along with him.

Turning back around, Sookie found Eric toweling off slowly. The look on his face made Sookie's breath catch, and as much as she wanted to, she just couldn't look away.

Chest and arms now dry, Eric started to towel off his hair. She couldn't help but watch his chest muscles work and could have, and probably would have, watched him all night.

"Oh, please! Are you two done? We have stuff to take care of tonight!" A harsh voice came from behind Eric.

Sookie jumped while Eric just rolled his eyes.

"Pamela, you do know how to get in the way, don't you?" Eric growled at his child.

"Well, if I didn't say something, the girl was bound to drown in her own drool!" Pam snarked, moving around Eric and further into the room.

Sookie was red all over again and backed away from Eric, babbling. It even sounded incoherent to her ears. In her embarrassment, Sookie fled to the hall bathroom to collect herself, and refused to come out for at least five minutes after she heard Pam's heels on the hardwood stop sounding.

Finally getting herself settled, Sookie made her way tentatively to the living room. Eric had thankfully put some clothes on and was leaning against the fireplace; Amelia and Pam were sitting very snugly on the couch. Sookie hadn't noticed before, but Amelia looked great. Her short hair was styled simply, but it really showed off her face to which she had applied very subtle makeup. She was dressed in her typical soccer mom style, which interestingly enough was just like Pam's style.

The only other person in the room looking uncomfortable, besides Sookie, was Alcide. He was sitting in the recliner, his big hulking arms crossed tightly across his chest. His face was set in a scowl that distorted his face in such a way that Sookie could practically see his wolf coming through.

Pam broke the silence, "Can you tell her already so I can go and enjoy the rest of my night off?" No one missed the look passed between Pam and Amelia, and it set three eyebrows a-raisin'.

"Lover, there was an incident last night," Eric started, diving right in.

Alcide growled at the term of endearment but was ignored by everyone.

"What happened?" Sookie gasped, rushing further into the room.

"That drip Clancy went splat all over your irises," Pam deadpanned, trying to move the process along.

Eric glared at her but continued as if she hadn't spoken. "One of my people, Clancy, was set on guard duty last night, and he has met his final death. I assume that it happened around dawn since none of us heard it, being that we were too focused on your…dilemma.

"I think that it is possible that your phantom is responsible. He may have been trying to get into the house before Amelia did her magic."

Sookie was shocked silent. He had come so close to her and she'd had no clue! She was scared and it showed in the tears that started to pour down her face.

"Oh, great; she's leaking!" Pam huffed.

"He's going to come back. You all can't be with me every day for the rest of my life. He's going to get me, and if he doesn't, what's to stop him from getting in my head?" Sookie was shaking almost violently now, and Eric went over to wrap her in a comforting hug which only made her cry harder.

After a moment, Amelia spoke. "I don't think we will have to worry about him getting near the house or into your head again. I spoke to my mentor, Octavia, and we came up with a few different wards that I placed on the property. No one can come onto the property without your explicit permission. That ward extends to the beginning of the driveway, halfway through the cemetery, and way out into the woods out back.

"Also, we found a personal ward that will not let anyone violate your person. That one is only guaranteed to work in conjunction with a few minor wards that I put on the property, but it should keep him out of your head as long as you are at home."

Amelia sat looking pleased with herself.

"Thank you so much Ames! I know that it is a lot of work for you to put up wards, and I really appreciate it. But I can't stay in the house for the rest of my life. Not only do I have to work, but I refuse to let him win my dictating my life like that!"

Sookie's anger was starting to surface and her fight was coming back.

Eric eased back from her a bit and looked down into her face. "That's where I come in, Lover. I will find this phantom and kill him so that you can have your life back."

Sookie wanted to disregard his words, but something in his eyes made her believe him.

She nodded mutely; the fight drained out of her again, and put her head to rest on Eric's chest. She barely registered Eric giving out instructions and the house clearing out.

Soon they moved to the couch to watch television, but nothing really interested them. Sookie had confidence in Amelia's wards and let herself completely relax.

Eric became excited after several minutes of channel surfing. "Look, **Let the Right One In **just started."

Sookie had heard of the movie but had refused to watch it, assuming it was just another one of those silly vampire movies that had come out since the great reveal, only foreign.

"I'm not watching some foreign vampire movie with you, Eric."

Eric looked affronted. "First of all, its Swedish. Secondly, it's not a vampire movie; it's a movie in which one of the characters is a vampire."

Not feeling like pushing the point, Sookie sighed her acquiescence.

She was actually pleasantly surprised with the movie. She could really relate to the young boy's bullying problems, and it made her think back to her own childhood.

After the movie, Sookie ate one last time before she and Eric headed to her bedroom. For some reason she was now nervous to be alone with him; something about him being in her room when she wasn't having a breakdown was daunting.

They both moved around in silence getting ready for bed. While washing her face, Sookie had a thought. "Hey Eric, have you looked at your hidey hole?" She called from the bathroom.

"No need to shout, Lover." He replied from directly behind her. "No; I was waiting for you so we could check it out together.

Eric handed her a hand towel to dry her face and led the way back into her room.

"Where did you tell him to put it?" Eric asked.

Sookie was once again feeling nervous, "I told him to put it in here; I hope that's okay," she said in a small voice, pointing to the closet that was almost directly in front of her bed.

"That's perfect," Eric said, kissing her gently on the head before opening the door.

Peering in, Sookie didn't see that anything was different other than the fact that some of her things had been rearranged.

"He said he finished it," Sookie said, disappointed.

Eric didn't answer; he just cleared the things from the bottom of the closet and ran his hand around the carpeting until he found what he was looking for. When he did, a trap door opened up. Peering down, Sookie was amazed at what she had seen.

The space was huge; it could fit two Erics in it easily! It was deep enough that Eric would be able to sit up, even with the lid closed. The lining looked luxurious and was an earthy taupe color, set off by several large jewel toned pillows.

"Wow!" Was all Sookie could manage.

"The wolf may be a pain in the ass, but he does good work. I'm happy to see that Bobby got him the supplies he needed," Eric said, closing the door.

Now that Sookie knew what she was looking for, she could see the latch to lock and unlock the door, as well as a seam in the carpet.

Together, Sookie and Eric put the things back into the closet, making sure to cover up the seam.

Eric made his way to the bed but Sookie was rooted to the spot.

Settling on the bed, Eric beckoned Sookie over. "Lover its okay; I won't bite," he said with a wink.

Taking a deep breath to settle herself, Sookie made her way over to the bed. Lying down next to Eric this way, Sookie felt safe. Eric, however, was not satisfied with their distance from each other. He pulled Sookie to him so that her back was to his chest. At the contact they both sighed, feeling complete contentment wash over them.

The two spent the rest of the night talking about anything and everything under the sun. They shared favorite movies and music, childhood stories from Sookie, and stories of Eric's human life. They talked until just minutes before dawn, when Eric disappeared into the closet and Sookie fell into a deep sleep.

The next few days passed, and they were almost indiscernible. Amelia or Alcide took care of breakfast, since Sookie was sleeping later so she could spend more time with Eric. The three would spend the day together, with Amelia and Sookie trying to get back to their normal routines as much as possible, and Alcide pouting and trying to get the idea of Sookie and Eric together out of his head.

The nights were a blur of movies and music. Some nights were like living an episode of **Mystery Science Theater 3000** with Sookie, Eric, and Amelia commenting on everything. On nights where Eric had to go to Fangtasia, Pam would come over. She would spend most of her time in Amelia's room while Sookie waited impatiently for the changing of the guard.

Eric's and Sookie's nightly talks continued, but started to turn into more. It started with the exchange of chaste kisses, which grew in intensity quickly. Tentative hands searched bodies, immediately becoming familiar with the new topography. After night three, Sookie had allowed Eric to feed from her, and was happier for the experience.

One night, about five days after the "incident," as it was being referred to, the feeling of cabin fever that was starting to plague Sookie could no longer be contained. Turning away from **Revenge of the Sith** (Eric insisted they watch the entire Star Wars saga in order even though he hated the prequels with a passion.), Sookie blurted, "I need to get out of here!" her eyes bordering on wild.

"Sookie, is something wrong? Do you hear something?" Eric asked, prepared to take off at a moments notice to attack the threat.

"No; I don't hear anything but I can't stand staying the house anymore! Eric, I've never been the kind of person to just sit on my butt all day, and it's driving me crazy!" Sookie whined.

Eric started to calm down slowly, his vampire equivalent to adrenaline slowly leaving his system. He shook his head emphatically before speaking. "Definitely not. That thing is still out there, and as long as it remains alive, you are not safe."

"What if you never find him, Eric? Am I supposed to stay locked away in my home forever? How am I supposed to pay my bills if I can't work? And sooner or later you're going to leave and he'll get me anyway."

At that, Eric's eyes went cold and dangerous. He spoke slowly and deliberately. "I will find him, and I will kill him."

"When?"

That one word brought Eric up short. Never before had he had such a hard time finding and destroying an enemy. Technically it wasn't even his enemy. He wasn't in the habit of fighting other people's battles, but looking into Sookie's face, he knew that he would do anything for her.

He cupped her face in his hand and looked her directly in the eyes. "Soon."

The trust in her eyes at that point made him even more determined to find the phantom and dispatch him.

Sookie leaned into his hand and knew he was doing his best, but she could not abide just sitting and waiting. "Can we at least go to Sam's party? I know you won't let anything happen to me, and its just one night."

She prayed that he would agree, and when he closed his eyes she knew she had won.

"What should we be?" He asked.

"I don't know yet but we should do a couples costume." She beamed at him.

Eric suppressed the desire to groan when he thought of all of the cheesy costumes he has seen.

"I want us to be bonded by then," he stated flatly.

This brought Sookie up short; she had never heard the term before and said as much.

"We will exchange blood. I will be able to find you if ever we get separated, and I will be able to feel your intense emotions. After enough exchanges, the connection gets stronger and we will be able to feel each other's every emotion. At that point, however, the connection will be permanent. The bond will allow me to better protect you, and if all goes well Friday, we can see about changing the current game plan."

Sookie took a moment to think it over. She knew she felt very deeply for Eric, and the idea of being tied to him excited her. She was overjoyed that it could lead to her getting out of the house more, even if the phantom was not caught soon.

A nod of Sookie's head was all that Eric needed, and he led Sookie to her room with an exited glint in his eyes.

Soon it was Friday, and Sookie could barely contain her excitement over Masquerade Night over at Merlotte's. It had to be her favorite night of the year; the party was always so much fun, and this year would be that much better since she would get to share it with Eric.

Eric had to check on Fangtasia before they headed to the party, so Pam came by with her costume to help her get ready. Apparently, she and Amelia were going as well, and were planning on wearing matching costumes. Sookie had tried to talk Alcide into attending as well, but he'd flat out refused.

"Come on Blondie, we have work to do!" Pam said, shaking her bags at Sookie.

Sookie followed Pam into the bedroom and the two got right to work. The costume itself wasn't complicated at all, but the hairstyle took a good deal of time. Sookie wasn't sold on the costume idea at first, but Eric could be very persuasive when he wanted to be. So there she was, dressed liked a sexed up version of Princess Leia from **A New Hope,** cinnabon hair and all.

The white dress was tighter than the movie version, and there was a pretty daring split up the front. However, it was much better than wearing the slave outfit like Eric had wanted originally. It had taken all night to convince him that it wasn't a good idea, and in the end the only thing that got him to change his mind was the fact that there would be other guys to see her in the costume at the party.

In the amount of time it took Sookie to take in her costume, Pam had put on hers. Sookie could not fight the giggles that bubbled up when she saw Pam's reflection. At first Sookie couldn't make heads or tails of the costume, but then it clicked.

Spinning around to face Pam, Sookie said in shock, "You're Chewbacca?"

Pam just nodded, and Sookie doubled over with laughter. "How in the world is that Chewbacca?"

The costume consisted of a short furry brown skirt with a matching midriff baring, long-sleeved, hooded shrug. Those descriptions were actually far too generous because they implied that the garments covered much more of Pam than they did.

The boot covers may have covered more skin than the entire rest of the outfit, seeing as they started at her knees and covered her shins and calves completely.

"Wow!" was all Sookie could think of to say. Thankfully, she didn't have to think of anything else, because they both heard a car coming up the bumpy driveway.

They found Amelia waiting in the living room dressed as a decidedly more feminine version of Boba Fett. Her midriff was bare as well, and there was a rather large keyhole cut out of her top, exposing quite a lot of cleavage. Sookie was, all of a sudden, not as unhappy with her costume as she was before. At least she was completely covered.

"I sense a theme here, sexy Stars Wars. I take it this was Eric's idea?" Sookie said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Lover, it was, and from what I can see, it came out better than I could ever have imagined." Eric said from the door.

Turning towards his voice, Sookie's smart remark fell dead on her lips. She heard Amelia think, "_Hot damn_" from beside her, and she couldn't help but second that thought.

It wasn't that Eric was dressed as a sexy version of Han Solo - he just filled it out in such a way that it couldn't help but be sexy as hell. The closeness of the material to his skin showed off every masculine line of his chest and stomach, and the pants were so tight they left very little to the imagination.

"I take it you like my costume, Lover? But we must go; the sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave and you can admire it more closely." Eric said waggling his eyebrows at her.

Since Sookie couldn't come up with a comeback, everyone walked outside to head to the car. She did, however, stick her tongue out at Eric as she passed him. This earned her a chuckle and a light swat on the butt.

"This is going to be an interesting night," Sookie thought as she walked out of the house.

Pam and Amelia were already in Pam's car; Eric led Sookie over to his corvette, and fairly quickly they were on their way to Merlotte's. The normally 15 minute drive took all of 5. Eric was out of the car to open Sookie's door, but was having some difficulty since she was holding onto the handle so tightly. Looking over, he saw that Pam was having the same problem with Amelia. They had both forgotten that their dates were human and became frightened when moving at high rates of speed.

After some encouraging, Sookie finally calmed down enough to let go of the door's handle and get out of the car. She was shaky on her feet for a bit, but quickly regained her composure.

Soon enough, Amelia collected herself as well, and the four made their way into Merlotte's.

The scene was a festive one; as usual Sam had out done himself with the decorations. The bar looked amazing and was done in a Venetian masquerade theme. You would think that all of the differing costumes would look out of place on such a backdrop, but it actually worked.

A figure in one of those fancy pirate costumes and a beautiful Venetian mask with the large hooknose approached the foursome. Sookie would not have known who the person was if not for the unruly strawberry blonde hair that was sticking out from under the hat.

She ran to Sam, and he threw his arms around her to give her a big hug, ignoring the growl he heard behind her. Sam flinched when he caught the smell of Northman on Sookie, but continued to hug her simply because he missed her so much.

Laughing, he said, "It's good to see you too Cher. How have you been?"

Sookie told her friend and boss the condensed version of the past week, and Sam caught none of it but the number of times she mentioned Eric's name.

"Well I'm happy you're here and that you're okay." He said, smiling at her and nodding to the rest of her party.

Just as Sam walked away, Jason came over to Sookie. "Where have you been Sook? I've been worried; you haven't been to work in almost two weeks!"

"Hello to you too, Jason! Is your phone broken?" Sookie asked remembering sadly why it was that she and her brother weren't closer.

"No, why?"

Sookie was beyond exasperated now. "So, in all that time that you didn't know where I was, you didn't think to call me or come by the house to check on me?"

In typical Jason fashion, he just ignored her and asked where she'd been again, glaring suspiciously.

Wanting to get this conversation over with as soon as possible, Sookie just skipped ahead to the introductions.

"Jason this is my…my Eric," Sookie said, not knowing what else to call him. "And his child Pam; you know Amelia. Pam, Eric, this is my brother Jason." Sookie almost hesitated to call him her brother since he rarely acted like it, but they were all they both had left by way of family. She was determined to remember that, even if he wasn't."

Eric didn't saying anything to Jason, writing him off as not worth his time after watching his interaction with Sookie. Jason treated her as if she wasn't an important part of his life, so Eric would treat him in the same manner. Jason didn't even notice Eric's lack of response because he was too busy staring at Pam and the parts of her that were not really covered by her costume.

"Hi there," he said, putting on the charm and sticking his hand out for her to shake.

Pam looked at the hand as if he was offering her a dead fish. Amelia, on the other hand, knew how Jason operated and put a possessive arm around Pam's waist, which earned her a fangy smile.

Jason, being his usual bright self, realized at that moment that Pam and Eric were vampires.

Turning to Sookie, he said loud enough for the whole bar to hear, "Is that why you've been gone Sook? You went off to become a fangbanger? I thought you were better than that! What would Gran say?"

Eric was about to speak but Sookie heat him to it. "She would say that she was happy that I found someone that cares for me and loves me just the way I am, someone that would look after me, which is more than I can say about you!"

Jason took a step towards her, but Eric was quickly up in his face. "You will not speak to your sister that way!" Eric said severely.

When it looked like Jason was about to say something else, Pam came up to flank Eric.

"Come on Sookie, lets get a drink from the bar," Amelia said, hooking her arm around Sookie's and leading her away.

Sookie felt as if she should be concerned for her brother's safety but couldn't bring herself to do it.

Soon enough, Pam and Eric met up with the two girls at the bar. Sookie saw an intact Jason walking out of the bar looking as if he'd had one too many. She really hoped he wasn't going to drive, but was brought out of her thoughts by Eric.

"Dance with me?" He asked, putting his hand out for Sookie to take. She did so without hesitation.

Sookie had come to love dancing with Eric; on the nights they spent listening to music, they would dance around the living room as if it was their own personal club.

Sam usually disallowed dancing in the bar, but on masquerade night he made an exception.

As they danced, Sookie took in the costumes of her friends. People that she had known her entire life were barely recognizable.

She couldn't help but remember the words to the little song she and Amelia made up for when they would set up for the event; _Masquerade paper faces on parade, masquerade, __hide your face, so the world will never find you! Masquerade! Every face a different shade. Masquerade! Look around there's another mask behind you!_

"What is that you're singing, Lover?"

Sookie was embarrassed; she hadn't realized that she was singing out loud. She knew that her voice wasn't the best, but Eric really didn't seem to mind.  
"Oh, Amelia and I made up that song about this party and we would singing it while we set up. Every year or so we'll make up a new verse to make up for the ones we forgot."

Eric smiled down at her, kissing her lightly on the lips and thinking she was the sweetest and most charming creature he'd ever met. He had a hard time believing that she could be related to that imbecile she called a brother; he couldn't even accept glamour properly.

Sookie was enjoying the music and her dance when she heard from behind her, "_Masquerade! Leering satyrs, peering eyes. Masquerade, run and hide but the face will still pursue you._"

She spun quickly in Eric's arms to look behind her to see where the voice had come from but saw no one. Turning back to Eric, she saw the question in his eyes. "I thought I heard someone, but I guess I'm just on edge," she said with a small chuckle.

Eric didn't buy it but decided to let it go. Knowing he was still thinking about it, Sookie tried to distract him.

Resting her head on his chest, she said, "_Think of it a secret _blood bond_, just think of it_." Trying to show him happy she felt about their bonding.

"_But, Sookie why is it secret? What have we to hide_?"

"_Please let's not fight, wait till the time is right_," Sookie said, trying to soothe him.

"_When will that be it's a_ bonding _not a crime_." He stopped their movements to look her in the face. "_Sookie what are you afraid of_?"

Sighing, Sookie said, "_Lets not argue_." It wasn't the first time they had had this discussion. Somehow, Sookie knew that the next time she met up with the phantom, the fact that she was bonded to Eric was not going to win her any points.

Both of them resigned, they spoke at the same time.

"_Please pretend you will understand in time."_

"_I can only hope I will understand in time."_

They went back to their dance, but it didn't feel the same as both of their minds were swirling.

Only moments later the lights went out and the music distorted. When the lights came back up, all anyone could see was the pool table flying across the room to crush Terry Bellefluer under it. Panic overcame the crowd, and Arlene's scream could be heard above all others.

Sookie was suddenly placed behind Eric's back along with Amelia as their vampires took up attack positions.

The voice that spoke was familiar to Sookie, and as scared as she was, she was glad to not be hearing the voice in her head this time.

"So sorry to interrupt your little party, but I have had it with being polite. This is my bar, and I have tried to ask that it be run in the way I see fit. Now you, Sam Merlotte, want to go into business with this Vampire, and I can not let this stand!" He spat the word vampire as if it left the foulest taste on his tongue.

Unable to restrain herself any longer, Sookie chanced a glance around Eric's arm at the phantom. He was wearing an outfit much like what a bullfighter would wear, but in the richest red. The red was such that the gold embroidery seemed to scream at you from the surface of the cloth. His dark hair was slicked back leaving his one uncloaked eye to seemingly stand alone on his face.

As soon as Sookie peeked around Eric's arm, the phantom saw her and made his way over to her. In a movement too quick for Eric to catch, the phantom pulled Sookie from behind him. Eric was about to pounce on him when the hand of a human he hadn't noticed until now reached out to stop him.

"Please sir, please trust me. He will not hurt her here. I know how you can stop him, and I will tell you, even though it breaks my heart to do so." The woman tried to convince him.

Seeing as the phantom had yet to do anything to his Sookie, Eric decided to listen to the woman for now. "Who are you?"

"I'm Maxine. I know everything there is to know about the phantom, but he has been harmless until now."

Eric snorted at the phantom being harmless after what Sookie had told him, but the phantom spoke again, stopping him from telling Maxine as much.

"You reek of that vampire's bond!" he said to Sookie, throwing her back into Eric's arms.

Turning to Sam, the phantom said, "The bar will be redone to my liking." He threw a leather folder down onto the floor.

The anger in the Bar Ghost's voice ratcheted up to frantic levels as he continued. "Sookie will be the head waitress; I will deal with the issue of her bond at a later time. My wishes are to be carried out as soon as possible."

With the last syllable, the lights went out again. When they came back up, the Bar Ghost was gone.

"Well that was interesting," Pam said into the silence.


	11. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

The ride home from the bar was silent. Eric stayed in his own head as he drove and tried to figure out how to end the phantom. Pam was in down time with Amelia asleep on her shoulder, while Sookie sat as still as possible trying not to panic.

Able to feel her distress, Eric reached over to take hold of Sookie's hand. She jumped at the contact but was instantly relieved to realize that it was Eric touching her. His touch seemed to bring an incredible sense of calm and comfort that she hadn't felt since her Gran was alive.

The normally short ride from Merlotte's to Sookie's home seemed to creep by, but eventually the group was spilling out of the car and into the house.

"Amelia, take Sookie inside Pam; I will be back soon and I'll send one of my vampires here until we return," Eric said, giving Sookie a squeeze before letting her go. By the time Sookie looked behind her when she reached the top of the steps, Pam and Eric had already gone.

Sookie and Amelia moved around the house in silence, ridding themselves of their costumes before settling into the living room to watch a movie. Sookie paid no attention to the screen as she waited for her roommate to fall asleep as she often did when they watched TV.

Convinced that her friend was sleeping soundly, Sookie grabbed her jacket and made her way out the back door, across the yard, and into the cemetery. With each step Sookie's pace increased, and soon she was running through the maze of fallen and broken headstones until she reached the one belonging to her beloved grandmother.

Kneeling before the headstone, Sookie brushed it clean of the dirt and leaves so that she could trace a finger over the engraving, "Adele Marjorie Hale-Stackhouse, Beloved Mother, Sister, Grandmother."

"Oh, Gran what do I do? I can't continue to let people get hurt because of me! _You were once my one companion, you were all that mattered. You were once a friend and mother, then my world was shattered. Wishing you were somehow here again, wishing you were somehow near. Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed somehow you would be here."_

A sound between and growl and a moan from deeper into the cemetery stole Sookie's attention away from her talk with her Gran. The full moon was enough to illuminate her surroundings but created shadows of a dense, inky blackness. She studied the shadows harder in an attempt to see any movement at all, but saw none.

While quite sure that she was alone, Sookie could still feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as she realized that she didn't know exactly where it was that Amelia's ward ended. _'This was a bad idea,'_ she thought to herself.

"What are you doing out here Lover?" Sookie heard from the shadows.

"I just needed to talk to Gran, she always knows what to do," she answered, moving towards the voice.

"You must miss her greatly."

Sookie paused feeling the tears welling up. "I do," She said before resuming her movement. Walking towards Eric's voice, she heard her grandmother's voice say, "You can't run from your problems darlin'. You're a Stackhouse, you face them head on."

Her breath hitched. Her Gran had said those same words to her a million times when Sookie was a child and wanted to hide herself away, when her ability would become overwhelming. She stumbled backwards with the realization that she was not remembering what her Gran would say in this situation but actually hearing it.

"_No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years."_

"Sookie, what are you doing out here?" Eric called from behind her, turning her around to face him.

"Oh, why won't you just go away already Viking?" the phantom called stepping out from the shadows, his costume from earlier in the night missing its jacket.

Sookie ran behind Eric shaking from fear of how close she was to the phantom.

"Get back into the house," Eric ordered without looking behind to make sure that Sookie heeded him, all of his attention on the creature before him.

He watched the phantom's one visible eye as it appraised Sookie's retreating form. The action elicited a growl from deep within him that frightened the night creatures into silence.

The phantom made a sound of his own in response that was almost as impressive as Eric's as they begin to circle each other, fangs down, hands clawed, bodies crouched.

"Why would a vampire such as yourself need such cheap tricks to get a woman?" Eric taunted as he sized up the phantom for their impending fight, trying to discern his weaknesses and plan his attack. He could tell that he was older than this vampire by several hundred years and figured that the fight should not take long. Soon his Lover would be safe.

"Right, like convincing her to bond to you under the guise of keeping her safe is any better? I want to help her, show her what a gift she has and all she can do with it. Not lock her away in her house surrounded by smelly guards and pathetic wards. Do you really think any of that can protect her from me forever? She will be mine, and you will be finally dead!" The phantom smiled sardonically, at least the half of his mouth that showed from behind the dark cloud obscuring the majority of his face did.

Eric reached for the silver dagger that he always carried on him even while he was human but the phantom was on him faster than even he could see.

"Looks like I've surprised the great Eric Northman," he hissed into Eric's ear while he held him to his chest with an arm like a steel band around him.

"I've learned a trick or two in all of my time alone-" his taunting was cut short by Eric's hissing.

Eric sliced deeply into the thing's arm and the wound screamed as the silver of the dagger ate away at the flesh.

In the time it took for the phantom to react to the pain in his arm Eric had released himself from its grasp and punched it square in the face. Although the punch was aligned perfectly with the creature's nose it did not register the blow; instead Eric's fist traveled further than what should be scientifically possible into the face of the phantom. The black cloud the thing wore, as a mask barely billowed however, giving no picture of what was hidden beneath. Eric would never admit to being frightened by very many things, but this he could not deny.

Recovering from his shock quickly, Eric removed his arm and began an assault on the body of the phantom. Feet and fists flew everywhere as the two fought.

Unable to stand the noises she was hearing, Sookie broke free of Pam's hold and ran to see the fighting for herself. All she could make out in the mêlée, aside from the sounds of fists making contact with flesh, was the occasional arm or leg that peeked out from the large cloud of dust that the two kicked up. It was almost like watching cats and dogs fight in cartoons. But there was nothing amusing about this scene.

Pam grabbed Sookie again pulling her back onto the porch in time for a deafening wailing scream to emanate from the dust cloud. The scream was followed soon after by a muffled roar as the blur of a figure ran further into the cemetery.

The dust settled to reveal a crumpled figure lying prone on the ground. Eric's hair shone almost silver in the light of the moon as Sookie, Pam, and Amelia rushed to his side. Sookie gasped when she took in the bloody body of Eric. He tried to move and groaned causing a hiss to escape Pam's lips.

She bent to lift her master so that she could bring him into the house. Her sudden movement in Eric's direction caused Sookie to produce a hiss of her own as she crouched protectively above the body of her lover baring her teeth.

"Bonded couples are always so cute," Pam said, rolling her eyes. Despite the graveness of the situation she found herself proud of the plucky little telepathic girl she was beginning to think of as a friend.

"Sookie, sweetie. Pam has to carry Eric inside so that he can heal; she is the only one that can move him," Amelia tried to reason with her feral friend.

It was like trying to calm a rabid Chihuahua but eventually Amelia got Sookie calm enough to let Pam near Eric. Pam carried her maker like you would a sleeping child that weighed next to nothing into the living room, placing him gently on the couch.

He groaned a little as he slipped in and out of consciousness. Pam knew that this was not typical behavior for a healing vampire but said nothing, not wanting to frighten her companions. She removed his shirt by ripping it to shreds in order to see better where he was hurt.

Even Pam couldn't hide her reaction to, or fathom what she saw before her. Amelia gasped while Sookie sobbed. Eric's entire abdomen was missing. No skin, no muscle, nothing left that would characterize the area. Just a hole. A hole through which his ribcage and internal organs were visible was all that was left. Pam wished she could throw up, while Amelia ran to the bathroom and did.

Sookie moved more quickly than normal, due to Eric's blood, into the kitchen and returned with her chef's knife. Faster than even Pam could see she cut her wrist open and put it to Eric's mouth.

He did not move; not an inch. The only evidence that he wasn't dead was the fact that he was not a puddle of vampire goo. Pam finally came back to the present and helped Sookie pry Eric's mouth open and massage his throat in an attempt to get the blood into his system.

After what felt like forever for the two women Eric began to drink on his own. Sookie gasped as Eric's fangs elongated and pierced into her skin. Pam monitored the healing as her master fed. She watched as the parts of his liver and intestine that were missing started to regenerate slowly. She saw his diaphragm move downward as his lungs took in enough air for him to produce a soft moan.

It was then that Pam saw the state Sookie was in. Her heart had slowed, and her complexion was sallow. Pam fought to break Eric's grip on his bonded's wrist, ignoring Sookie's protests.

"Pam, what are you doing? He needs to feed to heal!" Sookie cried, not understanding her friend's actions.

"Amelia!" Pam called.

Amelia stumbled back into the room as quickly as she could, doing everything she could to not see the man with the hole in him on her couch. What she did see was Pam sitting on a struggling Sookie.

"Feed him," Pam said in her laconic way, while pointing with her head towards the once again still form of Eric. Amelia didn't hesitate as she moved towards the unconscious vampire with her wrist proffered.

The smell of Amelia's blood so close to the surface of her skin was enough to rouse Eric and get him drinking again. Mesmerized by the sight before her Amelia barely noticed the pain in her wrist, or how quickly she was becoming dizzy as Eric devoured her.

She didn't notice how badly she felt until she was close to passing out and Pam was pulling Eric off of her.

All of his internal organs were as perfect as the day he died over one thousand years ago, but there was still no skin or muscle to contain them.

"Amelia, go get me every bottle of blood that you can find!" Pam ordered. "And Sookie, hold these in place. We don't want he muscles to grow back with them on the outside."

Pam offered her neck to her master in an act of willing sacrifice, knowing full well that she did not have enough blood to complete his healing and that the synthetic blood would be of no help given the extent of his injuries.

"Now that's what I call love," Amelia quipped returning with the bloods and seeing Sookie holding Eric's intestines in place.

Amelia fed Pam blood after blood until there weren't any more while her maker greedily drained her. Right as Pam thought the last of her blood was to be drained away from her by the only person she would have do it, the one who eternalized her, he stopped. Eric just stopped feeding and lay down on the couch, resting his head on a pillow.

Sookie fussed over him, brushing his hair from his face with her hand, fluffing his pillows, wiping the now dried blood from five different creatures off of him with a wet washcloth, anything to keep her worried and whirling mind from thinking the worst about what could have happened to what was most important to her at the moment, her Eric.

Amelia was equally as worried about Pam who was lying on the floor with her head in Amelia's lap.

"What do we do about sunrise?" Sookie asked. "We can't move them on our own."

"Alcide usually shows up about thirty minutes prior to sun rise. If they can't move on their own by then, he can help us put them in the new hidey-hole. At the very least he can carry Pam, and the three of us should be able to move Eric," Amelia reasoned, not really knowing how she was able to come up with such a coherent plan when she wanted nothing else but to sleep for days on end.

"Yeah," Sookie said lazily, "We should call him and tell him to bring as much True Blood as he can with him in the morning. We may need it."

Amelia made a noncommittal sound but reached for the phone in her back pocket anyway. Too tired to attempt an explanation of the night's events at the moment, she settled for a text message instead.

"Done," was all she said as she rested her head against the armrest of the overstuffed armchair.

She looked over to see her roommate asleep holding the hand of the Viking with her head resting on his once again perfect and flat, although slightly pink, stomach. Soon sleep claimed her as well.

"What the hell?" Alcide yelled from the front door. He had been banging on all of the doors and windows of the Stackhouse farmhouse for the last ten minutes to no avail. He knew they were home because all of the cars were parked around back, so what the hell was going on?

Finally, remembering where Sookie told him the spare key to the house was, Alcide let himself in and was not prepared for what greeted him. It looked like the scene from the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and everyone fell asleep in the field of poppies.

"I don't think a blizzard would wake these guys."

He moved tentatively over to Sookie as he realized that they may be in a state that's like sleep but much worse. '_Maybe there was a gas leak?_' He thought to himself, sniffing the air and finding nothing, _'Besides, gas would not affect the vamps,'_ he reasoned.

"Sookie, wake up!" He called, relieved to find a weak but steady pulse on her neck. After a few moments she finally stirred, immediately checking on Eric. Alcide couldn't help but roll his eyes but became concerned when Eric did not respond to his mate's call.

"You have to wake Amelia," Sookie croaked, her voice weak from both her emotional and physical pain. Her own abdomen screamed in pain as the final nuances of the bond came into effect.

She dozed for a moment but woke and finished her thought. "We need to get them in the hidey-hole before the sun comes up."

"What the hell happened here?" Alcide demanded, furious at the state of Sookie that was no doubt due to the vampire lying prone before him. If he didn't know, or care that the creatures death would be extremely traumatic to Sookie, Alcide would kill the monster right now, freeing his father of his debts that way.

"I'll explain later, just help me get them in the hole." Sookie said, rising to her feet. She swayed but only her resolve and Alcide's steadying hand kept her on her feet.

"Take Pam first and I'll wake Amelia."

Alcide didn't like it but he did what he was told. He removed Pam's surprisingly limp form from Amelia's tight grip and moved her into Sookie's bedroom and into the hidey-hole.

Sookie nudged her friend until a hoarse "What?" escaped her lips.

"Alcide is here, he is putting Pam in my room. You've got to get up."

Just as slowly and unsteadily as Sookie had moved, Amelia picked herself up off of the floor.

Alcide returned to find the two women leaning against each other. "You two sit," He said, moving them to the armchair. They were both able to fit next to one another in the oversized chair with no problem but protested anyway.

"You need help!"

"We need to help you carry Eric," They said, their mumbled words falling over one another's.

"I'll manage then I'll put the two of you in bed," He said, lifting Eric.

The girls would have found the sight amusing if they were awake to see it. Alcide was able to lift Eric with minimal effort but given the bulk of him it was awkward to hold on. The similarly sized men had to do a lot of maneuvering to get through the suddenly narrow doorways. Eric grunted when Alcide "accidentally" ran his head into the door jamb once or twice.

Finally making it to the closet door in Sookie's room, Alcide unceremoniously dropped Eric onto his child and closed the trap door. He suddenly felt better about his morning as he went to put Amelia to bed.

Sookie thought that she must have lost time because the next thing she knew, she was alone in the armchair and Alcide was lifting her.

"I'll walk; Eric won't like for me to smell of you when he wakes," She muttered, unable to keep her eyes open.

"Well, he'll have to deal with it this once."


End file.
